SpaceX is making the first orbital flight of its massive Starship rocket

SpaceX announced Thursday that it intends to hold a rehearsal next week for the first flight of its Starship rocket, which aims to transport humans to the moon and Mars, a test flight that could take place the following week.

“The spacecraft is complete,” the space company said in a tweet, along with photos of the rocket in all its stages — so far only separate test flights have taken place in the first and second stages.

“The team is working on launch rehearsal next week, followed by Starship’s first integrated test flight about a week later, pending regulatory approvals.”

SpaceX needs the green light from the US Civil Aviation Authority (FAA) to launch such a flight.

In February, at its base in Boca Chica, in the far south of Texas, the company conducted an impressive test of 33 Raptor engines from the first stage of the Starship, which is dubbed Super Heavy and has a height of 69 meters.

For a few seconds, in a huge roar, 31 of the 33 engines fired, “enough (…) to get into orbit!” exclaimed the head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, on Twitter.

Only the second stage of the rocket made suborbital test flights, many of which ended in impressive explosions.

NASA chose the Starship to land its astronauts on the moon during the Artemis 3 mission, which is officially scheduled to take place in 2025.

The Artemis 2 crew, which must go to the moon and then circumvent it without landing there, will be transported by NASA’s SLS rocket, the most powerful rocket in the world at present … while waiting for the spacecraft.