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Elon Musk shares epic views of Super Heavy rocket moving to launch pad

The SpaceX beast is packed with rocket engines and raring to boost the Starship spacecraft into space.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
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The SpaceX Super Heavy rocket on its way to the launch pad in Texas.

Elon Musk

There's something about seeing a rocket on Earth that stirs the imagination. It promises power and potential. On Wednesday, SpaceX founder Elon Musk shared a trio of stirring images of the rocket that's meant to escort a Starship prototype spacecraft into orbit.

"Moving rocket to orbital launch pad," Musk tweeted along with the photos showing the massive Super Heavy rocket dangling in the air from a crane.

Musk and SpaceX had recently shared some views of the 29 Raptor engines installed on the rocket, which will launch from the company's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. All that power is needed to boost Starship -- a spacecraft meant to eventually reach the moon and Mars -- for its first orbital test flight.

Engine fans will also enjoy a Musk tweet from Tuesday with a look at the business side of the first orbital Starship and the six engines mounted there.   

So far, SpaceX has "hopped" a series of Starship prototypes, some of which landed cleanly and some of which exploded. Getting into orbit would be a huge step toward Musk's more ambitious space exploration plans. SpaceX is planning to carry a group of artists around the moon, develop a lunar lander for NASA and one day take humans all the way to Mars.

While the Starship and Super Heavy rocket combo are making progress, there's no launch date set yet. 

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