SpaceX has taken a significant step in the direction of sending the Starship to orbit. On Thursday night time, the non-public house company has carried out the SN20 Starship prototype’s first static hearth check as a part of its preparation for the spacecraft’s launch. According to Space, the SN20 is at the moment outfitted with two Raptor engines: A normal “sea-level” Raptor and a vacuum model designed to function in house. At 8:16PM Eastern time on Thursday, the corporate fired the latter. SpaceX then revealed on Twitter that it was the primary ever firing of a Raptor vacuum engine built-in onto a Starship.

Around an hour after that, the SN20 lit up but once more in a second static hearth check which will have concerned each Raptor engines. The SN20 will ultimately have six Raptors — three commonplace and three vacuum — and would be the first prototype to aim an orbital launch. A Starship launch system is comprised of the Starship spacecraft itself and a large first-stage booster known as the Super Heavy. Both are designed to be reusable and to hold giant payloads for journeys to low and better Earth orbits. It also can ultimately be used for longer journeys to the Moon and to Mars. 

SpaceX would not have a date for the SN20 check flight but, however the plan is to launch the automobile with the Super Heavy often called Booster 4 from the corporate’s Boca Chica website. The booster will splash down within the Gulf of Mexico, whereas the SN20 will proceed its journey in the direction of orbit.