--- title: "Incredible: Watch SpaceX Fly Full-Scale Starship Prototype to 500 Feet" description: "SpaceX has successfully flown its SN5 Starship prototype at its Boca Chica, Texas, testing grounds. The massive fuel tank lifted off the ground, with the company’s Raptor rocket engines roaring below. The news comes after a series of preceding tanks have crumpled like cans, exploded spectacularly in a giant fireball. It’s a big milestone in […]" date: "2020-08-04" modified: "2020-08-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-hops-full-scale-starship-prototype" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" tags: - "elon musk" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" - "the digest" --- # Incredible: Watch SpaceX Fly Full-Scale Starship Prototype to 500 Feet ![]() *\Image: BocaChicaGal/NASASpaceFlight\* ## Lift-Off! SpaceX has successfully flown its massive SN5 Starship prototype at its Boca Chica, Texas testing grounds to a planned height of 150 meters, or roughly 500 feet. "Mars is looking real," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [tweeted]() in response to the news. And it was quite the sight — a livestream showed the gigantic cylindrical stainless steel structure float up into the air, leaving a massive dust cloud behind. It then smoothly made its return journey downward. "This looks simultaneously cool as hell and fucking ridiculous," [tweeted]() *Ars Technica* senior space reporter Eric Berger. https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1290799617882431488 ## A Major Milestone It's a big milestone in SpaceX's efforts to build a rocket capable of ferrying up to 100 passengers (or 100 tons of cargo) to the Moon and even Mars. The massive fuel tank, the company's sixth full-scale testing prototype, lifted off the ground, with only one of the company's next-generation Raptor rocket engines roaring below. https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1290800794028187648 Despite today's success, the SpaceX team still has a long way to go. The final version is designed to hold six Raptor engines and sport a massive nosecone on top. During today's test, SN5 had a simulated payload mounted to the top of it to compensate for future payloads. ## Long Time Coming An earlier attempt on Monday [had to be scrubbed](). "Scrubbed for the day," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk [wrote on Twitter]() yesterday from the [Boca Chica control room](). "A Raptor turbopump spin start valve didn’t open, triggering an automatic abort." The news comes after a series of preceding prototypes have [crumpled like cans]() or [exploded spectacularly]() in a giant fireball. The SN5 prototype successfully [completed a static fire]() test on July 30 leading up to today's first hop. A scaled-down version called "Starhopper" [flew to 150 meters]() during a successful attempt in August 2019. "One day Starship will land on the rusty sands of Mars," [Musk quipped]() on Twitter at the time. **READ MORE:** [Prototype of SpaceX’s future Starship rocket flies short hop to 500 feet]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on Starship:** *[SpaceX to Attempt First Full-Scale Starship Test Flight This Week]()* ## 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]()