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Starship (Super Heavy Starship, BFR, Big Falcon Rocket)
 Starship (B7/S24) [SpaceX] |
 Starship (B9/S25) [SpaceX] |
Starship (formerly known as BFR (Big Falcon Rocket and BFS (Big Falcon Spaceship) is a planned very large completely reusable crewed launch system by SpaceX that is intended by the company to replace all SpaceX's existing launch vehicles and spacecraft by the mid 2020s.
The rockets are completely reusable on both stages. The expected landing reliability is to be on a par with major airliners. The vehicle has a principal diameter of 9 meters and is built from satinless steel. It is powered by SpaceX own Raptor engines running on liquid methane and oxygen. The Super Heavy Starship will be 118 m high and will weigh 4400 t at launch.
The system consists of two parts:
- The 68 m long booster stage, called Super Heavy, which is powered by 33 Raptor engines . This stage will either return to the launch site or land off-shore on a floating platform by powered reentry and landing. On reentry, the stage is steered by four large actuated grid fins, which are designed to control its descent and be caught by the launch tower's pair of mechanical arms in midair. The stage has a propellant capacity of 3300 tons.
- The 50 m Starship upper stage is also built from stainless steel with a principal diameter of 9 m. This stage is powered by 3 standard Raptor engines and 3 fixed vaccum-optimzed raptor engines. The Starship has a dry mass of 85 tons and has a propellant capacity of 1200 tons. The ascent payload capacity is 150 t to low earth orbit and it has a return capacity of 50 t. The Starship is to reenter belly-first with two aft fins and two canards provide skydiver-like steering. The maximum heating areas are covered by rugged ceramic-tiles. The Starship comes in different versions as crewed ships, cargo ships or tankers for in-orbit refueling of other Starships. The front part houses either the crew compartments, cargo compartments or tanks. Starships are are capable of automated rendezvous and docking. It is also designed to be able to land both on moon and Mars. The Spaceship contains 1000-1100 m3 of pressurized volume; could be configured with 40 cabins, large common areas, central storage, galley, and a solar storm shelter in Mars transit configuration.
Launch sites are at Boca Chica, Texas, and at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
| Version | Stage 1 | Stage 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Starship v0 | Booster / 29 × Raptor | Ship / 3 × Raptor, 3 × Raptor-Vac |
| Starship v1 | Booster / 33 × Raptor-2 | Ship / 3 × Raptor-2, 3 × Raptor-2Vac |
| Starship v2 | Booster / 33 × Raptor-2 | Ship / 3 × Raptor-2, 3 × Raptor-2Vac |
| Starship v3 | Booster / 33 × Raptor-2 | Ship / 3 × Raptor-3, 3 × Raptor-3Vac |
| Starship v4 | Booster / 33 × Raptor-3 | Ship / 3 × Raptor-3, 6 × Raptor-3Vac |
| Performance (kg) | LEO | LPEO | SSO | GTO | GEO | MolO | IP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starship v1 | ~15000 | ||||||
| Starship v2 | ~35000 | ||||||
| Starship v3 | ~100000 | ||||||
| Starship v4 | ~200000 |
No.TypNo Type Serial Date LS Payload
10 1 Starship v1.1 B7/S24 20.04.2023 * F BC OLP-A Starship S24 F1 (IFT) 11 1 Starship v1.2 B9/S25 18.11.2023 * F BC OLP-A Starship S25 F1 (IFT-2) 12 2 Starship v1.2 B10/S28 14.03.2024 * n BC OLP-A Starship S28 F1 (IFT-3) 13 2 Starship v1.2 B11/S29 06.06.2024 * n BC OLP-A Starship S29 F1 (IFT-4) 14 3 Starship v1.2 B11/S29 13.10.2024 * BC OLP-A Starship S30 F1 (IFT-5) 15 4 Starship v1.2 B13/S31 19.11.2024 * r BC OLP-A Starship S31 F1 (IFT-6) 16 1 Starship v2.1 B14/S33 16.01.2025 * F BC OLP-A Starship S33 F1 (IFT-7) / Starlink v3 Dummy 1-1, …, 1-10 17 2 Starship v2.1 B15/S34 07.03.2025 * F BC OLP-A Starship S34 F1 (IFT-8) / Starlink v3 Dummy 2-1, …, 2-4 18 3 Starship v2.1 B14-2/S35 27.05.2025 * P BC OLP-A Starship S35 F1 (IFT-9) / Starlink v3 Dummy 3-1, …, 3-8 19 4 Starship v2.1 B16/S37 26.08.2025 * n BC OLP-A Starship S37 F1 (IFT-10) / Starlink v3 Dummy 4-1, …, 4-8 20 5 Starship v2.1 B15-2/S38 13.10.2025 * n BC OLP-A Starship S38 F1 (IFT-11) / Starlink v3 Dummy 5-1, …, 5-8 planned launches xx x Starship-Cargo . xx.xx.202x CCK LC-39B/2 Starlab xx 1 Starship-HLS . xx.xx.202x CCK LC-39B/2 Starship-HLS 1 xx 2 Starship-HLS . xx.xx.2028 CCK LC-39B/2 Starship-HLS 2 (Artemis 3) xx 3 Starship-HLS . xx.xx.202x CCK LC-39B/2 Starship-HLS 3 (Artemis 4) xx x Starship-Cargo . xx.xx.2027 CCK LC-39B/2 Superbird 9 * suborbital F failure P partial failure p partial failure (prime payload in usable orbit) r recovery failure (prime mission successful) n no recovery attempted (only for recoverable missions) Launch sites: BC = Starbase (SpaceX South Texas Launch Site) , Boca Chica, Texas, USACCK = NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA
Source: SpaceX Website
Cite this page:
- Krebs, Gunter D. “Starship (Super Heavy Starship, BFR, Big Falcon Rocket)”. Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved March 15, 2026, from https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/super-heavy-starship.htm Copy to clipboard
