SpaceX’s Starship Test is Making Both NASA and its Launch Pad Neighbors in Texas Very Nervous
SpaceX, the private space company owned by Elon Musk, is looking to test launch a fully assembled Starship,
a nearly 30-story-tall rocket, to Earth's orbit as soon as this month.
The launch site will ether be the company's development site in Boca Chica, Texas or NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It will be the largest spacecraft ever launched, and authorities at both locations are worried about the possibility of a test failure
something not unfamiliar to SpaceX—that could cause catastrophic damages to surrounding facilities and natural habitats.
SpaceX has tested 12 prototypes of Starship's upper stage in Boca Chica since late 2019.
Ship 24 is more than twice the size of previously tested prototypes and ten times more powerful, leading those working near the launch site to worry what would happen if it blows up.