SpaceX Completes First Tethered Hop for Starship Prototype
SpaceX successfully executes the first tethered test jump of its Starhopper prototype in South Texas, marking a crucial early milestone for the Starship program.
SpaceX achieves a major early milestone for its next-generation launch system as the Starhopper prototype completes its first tethered hop at the company's Boca Chica test site. Elon Musk confirms the successful test on social media, noting that all systems show green during this initial firing of a rocket engine at the South Texas facility.
This tethered jump mirrors the early testing phases of the Falcon 9 program, where the Grasshopper and F9R Dev vehicles prove critical for developing reusable rocket technology. The Starhopper serves as a smaller-scale testbed specifically designed to validate the landing capabilities that will eventually be used on the full-scale Starship vehicle.
SpaceX maintains an ambitious timeline for the full Starship, with plans for initial cargo flights by 2022 and a passenger flight to the moon in 2023. The company also aims to launch a crewed mission to Mars by 2024 and establish a Mars Base by 2028, supported by recent component tests including a new hex-tile heat shield design for atmospheric reentry.