SpaceX has launched its fully-stacked version of Starship, including the upper stage and the Super Heavy booster, for the first time. The combined launch vehicle stands at nearly 400 feet tall, and the launch today included a successful lift-off, plus ascent all the way to and through the crucial Max Q period, which is the point of the launch during which the vehicle is under the most stress.
The test went surprisingly smoothly for a first flight of an orbital rocket – right up until the point where the first stage was meant to separate from the upper stage. At that point in the flight, the first stage continued to fire its engines and the upper stage did not separate or light up its own engines as intended. SpaceX also noted on their webcast that it looked like three of the Raptor engines that power the booster may not have fired, but that didn’t seem to negatively affect the initial lift-off and ascent.
All told, this should definitely be considered a success: Spa...
