SpaceX fires up Starship ahead of megarocket’s 1st orbital flight (video)

SpaceX is picking up the pace of preparations for the next launch of its giant Starship rocket.

On Wednesday night (Aug.

19), the company completed a single-engine static fire test with its Ship 41 vehicle, the upper stage that's in line to fly Starship 's upcoming Flight 14 mission.

As its name suggests, Flight 14 will be Starship's 14th test flight, but it will be the rocket's first launch into orbit, if all goes according to plan.

The recent engine burn was designed to prepare for that jaunt.

"Starship completed a single engine static fire demonstrating a deorbit burn for upcoming orbital missions," SpaceX wrote in an X post on Thursday (Aug.

20).

SpaceX conducts a static fire test with Ship 41, the upper-stage spacecraft slated to fly Starship's 14th test flight. (Image credit: SpaceX) Video included in the post shows Ship 41 standing at SpaceX's Massey's test site, near the company's Starbase facility in South Texas.

The clip shows the moment of ignition of one of the spacecraft's six Raptor 3 engines, which burns for approximately 15 seconds.

SpaceX followed up Wednesday night's test with a full six-engine test on Thursday (Aug.

20).

That burn lasted approximately 60 seconds, as seen in video captured by NASASpaceFlight.com .

With the completion of Ship 41's first static fires, SpaceX could be on track to launch Flight 14 sometime in early to mid-September.

However, there are still a number of prelaunch activities for the ship and its Super Heavy first-stage booster to clear before SpaceX will declare them launch ready, and, with Flight 14 tasked with placing Starship in orbit for the first time, the company is likely to be extra cautious.