4:37 am.
Starbase, Texas is dark.
Then it isn't.
For a few seconds, 33 Raptor engines fire at once — and the sky turns into daylight.
No one flies anywhere.
The rocket stays bolted to the ground.
But make no mistake — this was the real test.
👉 This was Booster 20, the first-ever V3 Super Heavy.
👉 It's part of Starship, the tallest, most powerful rocket humanity has ever built.
👉 Fully stacked with its upper stage, the thing stands nearly 120 metres tall.
That's taller than Big Ben. Taller than most skyscrapers you walk past daily.
Because in rocketry, ground tests decide everything.
A static fire checks if the engines, fuel lines, computers and structure can survive launch-level stress — without risking a launch.
Fail this, and you don't fly.
Pass it, and you've earned the right to try.
Booster 20 passed. Full duration. All 33 engines. Zero reported issues.
This isn't just another test in a long line of tests.
V3 is SpaceX's most upgraded Super Heavy yet:
SpaceX has already flown Starship 12 times, learning something new with every attempt — including catching returning boosters mid-air with giant mechanical arms.
Flight 13 is where all of that learning collides with a brand new machine.
Booster 20 now gets stacked with Ship 40.
Liftoff could come as early as July 15-16, pending weather and final regulatory checks from the FAA.
This flight will also test something bigger than raw power — improved heat shielding for atmospheric re-entry, a problem that's haunted past Starship missions.
Because the real goal was never just "biggest rocket."
It's a fully reusable ship that can slash the cost of reaching orbit, the Moon, and eventually — Mars.
Every static fire, every scorched pad, every 4 am flame in the Texas sky…
is one step closer to that.
That's all for now!
