Liftoff: Space X successfully Launches Starship Heavy Rocket at 6:25 am PST in Successful Test of Super Heavy Booster

Space X has successfully launched the Starship Heavy rocket on a suborbital flight, which will one day take colonists to Mars in Elon Musk's vision. They held it to the 8:25 Central Time launch time. Third Stage separation was acheived a few minutes later, followed by a de-orbit burn. Less than an hour later, Starship landed in a field of Plasma.

The third test flight of Starship Heavy is historic, since the first two blew up shortly after launch. If they get it off the ground, Musk Tweeted, Starship will fly East from the Texas Coast "Starbase." It will cross Africa and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere off of Australia's West Coast.

Starship's six engine's cutoff as planned, with the rocket at an altitude of 212 Km. Velocity of 26,212 KMH. Booster splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico is imminent..

Liftoff: Space X successfully Launches Starship Heavy Rocket at 6:25 am PST in Successful Test of Super Heavy Booster

Starship is an American two-stage super heavy lift launch vehicle under development by aerospace company SpaceX. It is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. Starship is intended to be fully reusable, allowing both stages to be recovered after a mission and to be rapidly reused.

The Starship launch vehicle is designed to supplant SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, expand SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation, and launch crews to both low Earth orbit and Mars. The vehicle is fundamental to SpaceX's ambition of colonizing Mars.

Liftoff: Space X successfully Launches Starship Heavy Rocket at 6:25 am PST in Successful Test of Super Heavy Booster

SpaceX plans to use Starship vehicles as tankers, refueling other Starships to allow missions to geosynchronous orbit, the Moon, and Mars. A planned lunar lander variant of Starship was contracted by NASA to land astronauts on the Moon as part of the Artemis program for at least two Artemis lunar landings, starting with Artemis 3 in 2026.

Less than an hour later, Starship landed in a field of Plasma.

"At around 5000 tons, Starship is the largest flying object ever made," tweeted Elon Musk, including video from the flight. https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1768271790596395399?s=20