Name: SpaceX has two Starship prototypes on the pad at the same time
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SpaceX has two Starship prototypes on the pad at the same time

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Space is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. .It looks like a scene from science fiction: Two gleaming silver rocket ships standing side-by-side under the Texas sun awaiting their turn to fly.&nbsp;But the shiny, finned rockets — Starship SN9 and SN10 prototypes — actually exist and met at the pad for the first time Friday (Jan. 29) at the company's South Texas facility near Boca Chica Village. The SN10 vehicle, SpaceX's latest in a line of new reusable prototypes, rolled out to the pad as its SN9 counterpart awaits its own test flight, (Feb. 1).&nbsp;"Starship SN9 &amp; SN10," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as he shared a view of the two suborbital rockets. Video cameras from the tourist site Spadre.com and others also caught the view, including this .&nbsp;Starship and Super Heavy:&nbsp;Starship SN9 and SN10 are the latest test versions of a planned fully reusable launch system envisioned by SpaceX to fly astronauts and payloads on deep-space missions. &nbsp;SN9 and Sn10 are each powered by three of SpaceX's and designed to fly on suborbital test flights up to 6.2 miles (10 kilometers)&nbsp;, an earlier version of the vehicle, on a similar test flight on Dec. 9. That flight reached an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 km) and performed two harrowing flips to return to Earth for a landing attempt. It failed to stick the touchdown and exploded on impact.&nbsp;SpaceX is hoping for a better performance by SN9.&nbsp;Eagle-eyed SpaceX watchers have been watching the SN9 prototype on its test stand for days as the company appeared to ready the rocket for launch. However, officials with the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercial rocket launches, have said the company did not yet have final approval to launch.&nbsp;"The FAA will continue to work with SpaceX to evaluate additional information provided by the company as part of its application to modify its launch license," an FAA spokesperson said in a statement to Space.com Friday.&nbsp;SpaceX's Starship stands 165 feet tall (50 meters), with its final version using six Raptor engines to reach space. It will launch atop a massive booster, called the Super Heavy, that will use about 30 Raptor engines to carry Starship vehicles to orbit. Both spacecraft are designed to land back on Earth for later reuse, much like SpaceX's current fleet of and .&nbsp; as one of three different designs, each led by a different team, to potentially fly astronauts to the moon as part of the space agency's Artemis program.&nbsp;Email Tariq Malik at&nbsp;tmalik@space.com&nbsp;or follow him&nbsp;@tariqjmalik. Follow us&nbsp;@Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at:Get breaking space news and the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Thank you for signing up to Space. You will receive a verification email shortly.There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.MORE FROM SPACE...12345

Space is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. .It looks like a scene from science fiction: Two gleaming silver rocket ships standing side-by-side under the Texas sun awaiting their turn to fly.&nbsp;But the shiny, finned rockets — Starship SN9 and SN10 prototypes — actually exist and met at the pad for the first time Friday (Jan. 29) at the company's South Texas facility near Boca Chica Village. The SN10 vehicle, SpaceX's latest in a line of new reusable prototypes, rolled out to the pad as its SN9 counterpart awaits...

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SpaceX has two Starship prototypes on the pad at the same time

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