Musk shows off prototype of Mars-bound rocket
WASHINGTON: Spacex CEO Elon Musk has unveiled the first pictures of a retro-looking, steely rocket called Starship that may one day carry people to the Moon and Mars.
Musk posted pictures on Twitter late Thursday of the Starship Hopper prototype, which awaits its first flight test in Texas in the coming weeks.
“Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @Spacex Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering,” he wrote.
The prototype built in Boca Chica, along the Gulf Coast of Texas, is nine yards (eight meters) in diameter -like the future rocket will be -- but is shorter.
Its first test flights -- suborbital “hops” reaching several miles (kilometers) in the air before landing back on Earth -- could come in March or April.
An orbital prototype is expected in June. That version will be paired with a massive rocket booster known as the Super Heavy.
Spacex has said the duo could one day transport peo- Elon Musk’s Spacex will lay off about 10% of its more than 6,000 employees, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The company did not comment on the number of layoffs but said in emailed comments that it needs to become a “leaner” organization for which it would “part ways” with some of its workforce.