Elon Musk on Starship’s first Orbital Flight, Mars Base Alpha and SN8’s 60 000 ft hop fly
SpaceX is getting closer to the day when it will be able to make good on its promise of conducting regular missions to orbit, the Moon, and to Mars. At the heart of all this is the progress they are making with their Starship and Super Heavy launch system.
In recent weeks, Musk’s commercial space company conducted two successful 150 m (500 ft) hop tests with the SN5 and SN6 prototypes at the Boca Chica launch facility in southern Texas.
Based on the latest announcements to come out of SpaceX, it appears that this recent string of successes has emboldened Musk and his company.
Previously, Musk indicated that he was planning on making several more small hop tests and that the SN8 would attempt a 60,000 feet or around 20 km (12 mi) flight sometime next year. More recent indications, however, suggest that Musk wants to conduct this high-altitude test before the end of October.
The launch would be the highest any model of the Starship has ever flown, beating this month's "SN6" launch, last month's "SN5" launch, and August 2019's "Starhopper" launch. All these ships flew to a height of around 500 feet (or 150 meters). The flight would also send the ship soaring to nearly double the altitude of regular commercial airplanes, which cruise at a comparatively low height of around 35,000 feet.

The feat could pave the way for some of SpaceX's grandest plans. The company is currently developing the ship at its Boca Chica facility in Texas, with the goal of a fully-reusable rocket capable of transporting over 150 tons or 100 people into space at a time. The ship could take on satellite launches similar to the Falcon 9, while its liquid oxygen and methane fuel enables passengers to explore Mars and return by refueling with the planet's resources. Musk has previously outlined his goals to build a city on Mars by 2050.
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P.C - NASA, SPACEX,