Starship SN5

Block 1 Starship Prototype

Mission Profile

Starship SN5 (Serial Number 5) was the first SpaceX Starship prototype to successfully complete a flight test, performing a 150-meter hop on 4 August 2020 at Boca Chica using a single Raptor engine after surviving a static fire test campaign. The brief hop flight demonstrated that the stainless-steel Starship design could take off and land using active propulsion control and validated the header tank and thrust vector control systems. SN5's success was celebrated by SpaceX after the previous two full-scale prototypes (SN3 and SN4) had been destroyed before completing any flight tests. The milestone cleared the path for SN6 to repeat the test and then for SN8 to attempt the ambitious 12.5 km high-altitude test in December 2020.