Videos: SpaceX Starhopper’s 150m test flight a success

SpaceX‘s Starhopper, a low altitude prototype of the Starship vehicles, made a successful short flight this evening at Boca Chica Beach, Texas. The single Raptor LOX/Methane engine powered the vehicle up to 150 meters (max alt allowed by FAA for this test) and sideways for a couple hundred meters.

Elon Musk has said this will be the last flight of the Starhopper. The two Starship orbital demo vehicles under construction at Boca Chica and in Cocoa Beach, Florida, are expected to begin flights in the coming months. The Starhopper will be used for ground static test firings of Raptor engines.

Here are various views of the test, starting with a SpaceX video, which mostly shows the flight as seen by a drone:

Here’s a sneak peak, non slow mo edit of @spacex‘s #StarHopper‘s glorious 150m successful hop! I still can’t believe that happened. I’m still shaking…. and I’m removing those shakes with warp stabilizer as we speak for the YouTube upload 😝 Standby for the HQ version! pic.twitter.com/dPvB1rgtQo

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) August 28, 2019

STARHOPPER DID IT, congratulations to SpaceX and Elon Musk to another successful test flight. WERE ONE STEP CLOSER TO MARS, can’t wait for STARSHIP🔥🚀 pic.twitter.com/yrQY3yFQgD

— Austin Barnard🚀 (@austinbarnard45) August 27, 2019