SN6 hops: SpaceX achieves third test flight at Boca Chica
Shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday, SpaceX test successfully hopped its SN6 Starship prototype to 500 feet at Boca Chica, 30 days after a 500-foot hop and landing on Aug. 4 by the SN5.
The SN6’s single Raptor engine was ignited at 12:48 p.m., 10 minutes after a siren was sounded warning nearby Boca Chica Village residents that a launch was imminent, and flew for about 50 seconds before landing on a pad adjacent to the launch stand.
It was the third hop at the company’s Boca Chica Starship production complex and launch/test site. The first occurred on Aug. 27, 2019, when the first Starship prototype, dubbed “Starhopper,” flew for just under a minute before touching down.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Aug. 4 after the SN5 flight that “we’ll do several short hops to smooth out launch process, then go high altitude with body flaps.”
Read more: https://www.brownsvilleherald.com/2020/09/03/sn6-hops-spacex-achieves-third-test-flight-boca-chica/
