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Starship IFT-1
Starship Flight Test 1 (IFT-1) took place on April 20, 2023, from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The stacked Starship SN24 and Super Heavy Booster 7 represented the first fully integrated launch of the vehicle. At liftoff, the rocket became the most powerful ever flown, generating about 16.7 million pounds of thrust from its 33 Raptor engines.
Despite this achievement, multiple engines failed during ascent, and the vehicle suffered damage to its ground systems from the immense thrust. About four minutes into flight, Starship lost attitude control, began tumbling, and was intentionally destroyed by the flight termination system before reaching stage separation.
While IFT-1 ended in destruction, it marked a historic milestone: the first attempt to fly the world’s largest rocket. The data collected on engine performance, structural loads, and pad resilience provided crucial insights that drove upgrades and design changes for IFT-2 and beyond.
