SpaceX performed the first fire attempt on 33 Starship engines

The SpaceX company has successfully conducted the full fire test of its 33 Starship engines to launch the first test flight to orbit next month. This fire test brings hope for Starship to get closer to its first orbital flight.

During this test, SpaceX Chief Elon Musk highlighted that from 33 Raptor engines, only two engines didn’t catch fire because the SpaceX mission team switched off one engine before ignition, and the other stopped by itself. He also claimed that the rest of the 31 engines are enough for a successful landing in orbit as they ignite for the full duration.

 However, the last time the company took a successful fire test was in November, in which only 14 Raptor engines were ignited. But different engines had to be fired up to send more starships on successful test flights and astronomers to the moon.

SpaceX president states in the Federal Aviation Administration annual conference on Space Transportation that hundreds of test flights are required before sending humans into space. The main objective of this Starship’s first flight was to avoid blowing up the launch pad.

In mid-2022, SpaceX performed a test in which 33 engines were simultaneously spun up on a prototype to know the start-up sequence, but the booster caught fire. In response to this incident, Elon Musk said it happened because the Raptor engine is complex to start in a series.