Starship outpowered Apollo 11 rocket despite holding back in test; how powerful was it?

SpaceX, on Friday, February 11, completed the first-ever 33-engine static fire test of the Starship Super Heavy Booster 7 prototype and much to everyone’s delight, the launch tower it was attached to was still standing amid fears of significant damage. However, the test only saw 31 engines being ignited, which later SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that the teams shut one engine deliberately while another shut off on its own, the reason unknown. The Booster still generated enough thrust to transport payloads to orbit, Musk said, and now has people talking of the immense power it generated during the test. 

Views from drone of Booster 7's static fire test pic.twitter.com/KN4sk1nohf

— SpaceX (@SpaceX)

Super Heavy Booster 7 completed a full duration static fire test of 31 Raptor engines, producing 7.9 million lbf of thrust (~3,600 metric tons) – less than half of the booster’s capability pic.twitter.com/cNLmp3Pn7G

— SpaceX (@SpaceX)

How powerful was the Booster 7?

According to SpaceX, the Booster generated 7.9 million pounds or approximately 3,600 metric tons of thrust during the test, which is half of its capabilities. This staggering amount of force was produced by the 31 Raptor 2 engines of the Booster 7, each capable of generating around 230 tons of peak thrust during liftoff. Notably, this is just for the Booster as there is a second stage-- the Starship spacecraft (Starship spacecraft and Booster collectively make up Starship rocket) which can produce 1,500 tons of 3.2 million pounds with six Raptor engines.

Going full throttle, Starship's Booster can produce 7,590 tons or 17 million pounds of peak thrust, making it the world's most powerful rocket. Despite holding back during the static fire, the Booster surpassed NASA's Saturn V rocket which had a capability of 7.6 million pounds and sent Apollo 11 astronauts to the Moon during the Apollo Program in 1969. 

(The Saturn V rocket; Image: NASA)

Notably, the said power was just a little less than NASA's Space Launch System Block 1 (SLS rocket) which was used in the Artemis 1 mission and lifted off with 8.8 million pounds of thrust. Starship’s height is also something worth considering since besides being the most powerful, it is also the tallest in existence at 120 meters or 294 feet. The SLS and Saturn V, on the other hand, measured 322 feet or 98 meters and 363 feet or 110 meters, respectively.

We are going.

For the first time, the @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion fly together. #Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration. pic.twitter.com/vmC64Qgft9

— NASA (@NASA)

Another launch vehicle that is now being talked about is the N-1 which was built by the Soviet Union during the cold war era as a rival to the Saturn V. It is said to have a higher thrust capacity than the latter, however, it also became the reason why the USSR never reached the Moon and was knocked out of the space race. 

Between 1969 and 1972, the rocket attempted four launches. All of them failed but the second one on July 3, 1969, just days before the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the rocket exploded just seconds after liftoff and marked the largest explosion in space history; large enough to destroy the launch complex. This mammoth rocket was equipped with 30 liquid-fueled engines, just three less than Starship.