Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to negotiate with the development company Space Florida about building a launch pad for launching its Starship super-heavy lunar rockets from the Cape Canaveral launch site in Florida.
As Day.Az reports with reference to Interfax, this was reported by the Orlando Sentinel.
The project, called Project Hinton, is estimated at $1.8 billion. We are talking about upgrading the site in the area of the old 37th launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center. Launches of super-heavy Starship rockets should begin as early as 2026.
Currently, only SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets can launch from the launch complexes at Cape Canaveral. Previous test launches of the developmental Starship rocket were carried out from SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in Boca Chica in southeast Texas. A total of six launches were carried out, four of which were successful.
The reusable rocket system consists of the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy launch vehicle. Its height exceeds 120 m. It is taller than any other rocket ever created in the world. The Super Heavy carrier is twice as powerful as the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy rocket being developed by NASA for manned flights to the Moon.