SpaceX test fires powerful Super Heavy booster in prelude to maiden launch

SpaceX engineers in Texas cranked up the world's most powerful rocket Thursday, firing 31 methane-burning Raptor engines in the company's gargantuan Super Heavy booster for a seven-second test run to help clear the way for an unpiloted maiden flight as early as next month.

Capable of generating up to 16.5 million pounds of thrust — twice the power of NASA's Space Launch System moon rocket — the Raptors at the base of the Super Heavy first stage roared to life at 4:14 p.m. EST, shattering the afternoon calm at SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, test facility.

Held firmly to its launch mount, the 230-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide Super Heavy was enveloped in a churning cloud of orange exhaust as the engines generated a torrent of incandescent fire and a deafening roar before shutting down about seven seconds after ignition.