SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on Twitter a photograph of a stainless steel model assembled from the Starship spacecraft on 11 January. According to him, this prototype is designed for takeoff and landing tests.
A SpaceX prototype “hopper” designed for vertical test flights suffered a setback when high winds in Texas thumped its nose cone over, according to CNET.
“I just heard. 50 mph winds broke the mooring blocks late last night & fairing was blown over. Will take a few weeks to repair”, Elon Musk wrote on Twitter, commenting on the matter.
SpaceX spotter Maria Pointer took photos and videos of the incident in Texas and shared them on Facebook on 23 January. The images show that the nose cone fell over on the ground.
The Starship spaceship for interplanetary flights is set to be the second stage of the super-heavy rocket carrier Big Falcon Rocket, created by SpaceX.
The stainless steel model was constructed at the site of the future SpaceX space centre in Boca Chica, Texas. The prototype has a smaller length, but the same diameter as the future ship. It is equipped with three Raptor engines.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
