Passed Test

SpaceX’s Starship Hopper Completes First Tethered “Hop”

"All systems green," CEO Elon Musk tweeted.
SpaceX's Starship Hopper successfully completed a tethered hop, putting the company's in-development Starship one step closer to liftoff.
Image: SpaceX via Flickr

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.

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.

READ MORE: SpaceX Just Completed Its First Starship Hopper Firing: ‘All Systems Green’ [Inverse]

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