Starship and super heavy booster checks static fire for test flight 3

SpaceX today conducted static fire engine burns to prepare the Starship and super heavy booster ahead of the integrated test flight 3.

The super heavy booster conducted a static fire with its 33 Raptor engines. On the other hand, the Starship demonstrated its flight-like engine start during the hot staging and also the space burn.

Ignition of a single Raptor engine on Flight 3 Starship demonstrating a flight-like startup for an in-space burn pic.twitter.com/BCv6iIUnag

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 29, 2023

Ignition of a single Raptor engine on Flight 3 Starship demonstrating a flight-like startup for an in-space burn pic.twitter.com/BCv6iIUnag

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) December 29, 2023

The latest engine fire tests are part of SpaceX’s preparation for the third test flight. Compared to test 1 and test 2, SpaceX is now moving faster in launch preps including static burn.

Starship’s Super Heavy Booster Static Fire Test, Source – SpaceX

However, we would like to see, how much time, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) takes to allow the third flight test. Read more below.

SpaceX Starship completes static fire before 3rd integrated test flight