Space X CEO Elon Musk says first orbital stack of Starship ready for flight

In a major step towards achieving his interplanetary space dreams, Space X CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday announced that the first orbital Starship prototype has been assembled. The organisation successfully stacked its new Super Heavy Booster prototype “Booster 4” to the launch site. As per reports, the new prototype SN15 is based on the reusable heavy-lift launch, which has the potential to lift cargo and astronauts for interplanetary travel.

Elon Musk shares pictures from the Spacebooster rolling down Highway 4

In a series of Twitter threads, the Space X CEO shared some moments from the assembling of the Spacecraft since August 4. In the first picture, the team attached the Booster to the massive LR11350 crane. The crane was built to stack the orbital tower & a full-scale Starship (Super Heavy Booster & Ship). Following this, the Booster 4 was placed onto the new Orbital Launch Mount using the lifting process, which was completed a few days (July 31st) before this event. Take a look at the process:

On August 5, Musk shared some more pictures that showed a mix of black and white-nozzled Raptor engines. The mix of black and white indicated that not the engines were tested before moving it to the Spacebase. As per reports, the currently assembled Ship 20 received new engines- 3 sea-level Raptor engines & 3 RVac, Musk informed. Take a look at the moving of the rocket to the orbital launch pad:

On August 6th SpaceX teams finished the installation of the heatshield tile, covering the main sections of the tanks. The tiles are deemed mandatory for Ship 20 as it will complete a full orbit around Earth, and then come down in the Pacific Ocean for a splashdown-type landing. On August 6th, Ship 20 was mounted onto the Super Heavy Booster, completing the year-long dream of Musk to make the first-ever full-stack Starship ready for flight.

Ship 20 is scheduled to make its first launch by the end of 2020. Following this, Musk has planned to take a trip to space by the end of 2023. The trip will include Japanese billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa onboard.

With inputs from @Elon Musk/Twitter

Image: AP/representative