---
title: "New Photos Show Half-Finished SpaceX Super Heavy Booster"
description: "According to new drone shots, SpaceX is making great progress on building the first prototype of its Super Heavy rocket booster."
date: "2021-02-03"
modified: "2021-02-03"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/photos-half-finished-spacex-super-heavy-booster"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "super heavy"
  - "the digest"
---

# New Photos Show Half-Finished SpaceX Super Heavy Booster

![According to new drone shots, SpaceX is making great progress on building the first prototype of its Super Heavy rocket booster.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/photos-half-finished-spacex-super-heavy-booster.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: SpaceX\</em\>*

## Super Heavy

According to new drone shots from its testing facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX is making progress on building the first prototype of its Super Heavy rocket booster. According to [*Teslarati*'s estimates](<https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-first-super-heavy-booster-halfway-complete/>), the prototype is roughly halfway built already.

The gigantic 230-foot booster is meant to eventually ferry the company's Starship spacecraft into orbit. Starship and booster together will stand just short of 400 feet, almost 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1356258218268389376

## Stacking Steel

The photos, [obtained by *NASASpaceFlight*](<https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1356258218268389376>), show a massive cylindrical structure of stainless steel. The finished product will hold around 30 sea-level Raptor engines, giving it around ten times the thrust of a single Falcon 9 rocket. At full thrust, it's destined to become the most powerful rocket booster ever built, according to *Teslarati*.

Before taking flight, the Super Heavy prototypes will likely have to undergo cryogenic fuel testing, just like their Starship counterparts.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed in December that early prototypes of the company's Super Heavy booster will undergo several low-altitude test "hops" in just "[a few months](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1342062363105759232?lang=en>)."

Of course, he's made similar claims about Starship — but its prototypes [keep exploding](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/another-spacex-starship-humongous-explosion>).

**READ MORE:** [SpaceX is halfway done building the world’s largest rocket booster](<https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-first-super-heavy-booster-halfway-complete/>) \[*Teslarati*\]

**More on Starship:** *[The Head of NASA Says He’s Not Quite Sure About SpaceX’s Starship](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/head-nasa-not-sure-starship>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)