SpaceX test-fires Starship booster in milestone for debut orbital launch

SpaceX's towering Super Heavy booster, one half of the company's Starship rocket system, briefly roared to life for the first time on Thursday in a test-firing that puts the behemoth moon and Mars vehicle closer to its first orbital flight in the coming months, a company live stream showed.

Thirty one of the Super Heavy booster's 33 Raptor rocket engines fired for roughly 10 seconds at SpaceX's south Texas rocket facilities, the company's Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the test.