SpaceX publishes photos of the Starship, a ship that will make trips to the Moon; Look

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SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk’s special products company, released this Thursday (12) images of the Starship spacecraft at the company’s base in Texas, in the United States. The spacecraft is expected to make its first flight to test its capabilities in a few weeks.

“The team is beginning a series of tests ahead of Starship’s first test flight in the coming weeks,” SpaceX said on Twitter.

The Starship is one of the most anticipated rockets for 2023. At least for the time being, it will be used to send astronauts to the Moon on the Artemis 3 mission. SpaceX for the Starship to also be used on Artemis 4, another mission that will take astronauts to Earth’s natural satellite.

Before that, however, Elon Musk’s company needs to demonstrate the safety and capacity of the new spacecraft. Flight tests in Earth orbit, planned for the next few weeks, are part of this verification.

The ship is fully reusable and has a high cargo transport capacity; the goal is to carry more than 100 tons to locations such as the Moon or Mars.

If the rocket demonstrates that it really lives up to expectations, it will become the most powerful spacecraft in operation, surpassing NASA’s SLS.

In December 2022, SpaceX released the names of the people who will be aboard Starship on the Dearmoon mission, the first private trip with humans in orbit of the moon by means of the rocket. The project is funded by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa. He selected, among millions of interested parties, ten people who will accompany him in the endeavor.

In total, Maezawa and the other crew will spend a week aboard the Starship, including the journey across the Moon’s surface and back to Earth.

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