SpaceX's Starship Hopper Completes First Tethered "Hop" - Futurism

Hop Along

SpaceX’s Starship got one tiny hop closer to launch on Wednesday.

At approximately 8:56 p.m. EDT, Elon Musk’s space company test fired the engine on its Starship Hopper at its Boca Chica, Texas, facility. The craft was tethered during the approximately one-minute-long test, ensuring that its “hop” didn’t take it too far from the ground.

Soon after, Musk tweeted that the mission was a success.

Starhopper completed tethered hop. All systems green. https://t.co/0m5Bm5slD2

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 4, 2019

Seeing Stars

The Starship Hopper — or “Starhopper,” in Musk’s lingo — is a prototype for Starship, an in-development craft SpaceX hopes to use to send people to the Moon, Mars, and even just on quick jaunts to the other side of the Earth.

While this Starhopper boasts just one engine, the final Starship is expected to have 31.

More on Starship: Elon Musk: SpaceX Hopes to Launch Starship “Test Hopper” This Week

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