Super Heavy: SpaceX set to unleash its 33-engine beast in maiden flight

After obtaining clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), SpaceX is planning to launch the most potent rocket ever constructed on Monday, April 17.

“After a comprehensive license evaluation process, the FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy, payload, airspace integration, and financial responsibility requirements,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.

SpaceX's Starship, which comprises the upper-stage Starship spacecraft and first-stage Super Heavy booster, is preparing for its inaugural orbital flight, scheduled to launch from the company's Starbase facility located in Boca Chica, Texas. 

If the launch schedule goes according to plan, it will occur in a few days' time at 7 am local time (5 am PT), with a live stream of the event accessible on SpaceX's YouTube channel. 

The flight will be short-lived, with the Starship separating from the first-stage Super Heavy booster moments after launch. The booster will then return and crash into the Gulf of Mexico, whereas the Starship will go on to orbit at an altitude of around 146 miles (235 kilometres) before descending and landing in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii 90 minutes later. 

Although neither the Super Heavy booster nor the Starship will be retrieved during this mission, SpaceX intends to recover and reuse the booster and the spacecraft in subsequent missions.

The launch of the Super Heavy is expected to be a spectacular event, with its incredible power on full display.

Powered by 33 Raptor engines, the 395-feet-tall (120 meters) rocket will generate an astounding 17 million pounds of thrust during liftoff. This far surpasses the current record of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which created 8.8 million pounds of thrust during its first launch in November 2020 for the Artemis I mission. Even the historic Saturn V rocket, which propelled Apollo astronauts to the moon, produced only around 7.6 million pounds of thrust.

Despite this incredible power, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has acknowledged that there is a chance the Starship's maiden flight may not go as planned.

“I’m not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement — [it] won’t be boring,” Musk said last month. “I think it’s got, I don’t know, hopefully about a 50% chance of reaching orbit.”