SpaceX is about to try something new with its mighty Starship rocket

SpaceX has just test fired a Super Heavy booster ahead of the Starship’s ninth flight test.

The ground-based firing of the world’s most powerful rocket took place at SpaceX’s Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday.

Notably, the upcoming flight test will involve the first-ever reuse of a Super Heavy booster, with this particular one having made its maiden flight in the seventh test in January 2025.

SpaceX shared footage of Thursday’s static fire in a post on social media:

The reuse of rocket boosters is a key part of SpaceX’s spaceflight system. The company has been landing and reusing the first stage of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket for years, helping the company to drastically cut the cost of spaceflight. Doing the same with the Super Heavy, however, is a more challenging endeavor due to the rocket’s much larger size, and because rather than landing on a hard surface like the Falcon 9, SpaceX is using a new method involving giant mechanical arms on the launch tower that secure the Super Heavy above the ground as it returns.

SpaceX has so far managed to successfully bring home the Super Heavy booster three times, achieving the remarkable feat for the first time in October last year. The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company said the first Super Heavy reuse will be a step toward its goal of “zero-touch reflight,” in other words, repeated liftoffs without the Super Heavy touching the ground between missions.

A date has yet to be set for the ninth flight test of the Starship, which comprises the first-stage Super Heavy and the upper stage Starship spacecraft.

The last two tests saw the spacecraft break up in the air due to recurring propulsion system issues linked to structural vibrations and fuel line vulnerabilities. Having now addressed those issues, SpaceX engineers will be desperate for the upcoming test to fill its mission goals, which will include a soft landing of the spacecraft in the Indian Ocean. 

SpaceX is aiming to ramp up testing of the Starship this year as NASA is hoping to use a modified version of the spacecraft to land two astronauts on the moon in the highly anticipated Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled for 2027.