SpaceX is planning to launch its huge Starship spacecraft frequently in the coming months, as evidenced by a new photo. In a recent post on X (Feb. 2), SpaceX revealed images of the “megabay” at its Stabase site in South Texas, which serves as the hub for Starship manufacturing and launch operations. The building is filled with towering stainless-steel cylinders — Super Heavy vehicles, the first stage of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket — that reach nearly to the ceiling. “Super Heavy boosters for the next three flights, with a fourth ready to stack, in the Starbase Megabay,” SpaceX posted.
Related: See impressive photos and video of Starship’s 2nd launch
Starship is composed of two parts, both designed for complete and rapid reuse: Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper-stage spacecraft called Starship. When fully assembled, Starship stands approximately 400 feet (122 meters) tall. It’s the largest and most powerful rocket ever constructed, with the capability to launch up to 150 tons of payload to low Earth orbit, according to SpaceX’s specifications.
Starship has only been launched twice so far, on test flights in April and November of last year, both of which ended in dramatic explosions. Despite this, the second liftoff saw enough progress — such as acing a full-duration Super Heavy burn and successfully separating its two stages — that success appears to be a real possibility on the third flight, which could be imminent. SpaceX aims to conduct the test mission this month, pending the acquisition of a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in time. (The FAA is leading an investigation into the events of the November flight.)
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SpaceX believes that the combination of power and reusability in Starship will lead to significant breakthroughs in exploration, enabling humanity to establish a presence on the moon and Mars. NASA has confidence in the vehicle, choosing Starship to serve as the first crewed moon lander for its Artemis program, which seeks to establish a permanent human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s. If all goes as planned, Starship will carry astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in 2026, on the Artemis 3 mission.
