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Musk Aims To Test Starship Hopper Next Month

Musk Aims To Test Starship Hopper Next Month, Tweets Mock-up

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk is aiming to test SpaceX’s Starship hopper in the next four weeks, "which probably means 8 weeks, due to unforeseen issues," the CEO said in a tweet Saturday.

Musk also tweeted a mock-up picture of the Starship test vehicle currently under assembly in Boca Chica, Texas.

Musk said the first hopper engine to be fired is almost finished being assembled in California. "Probably fires next month," Musk said. The engines currently on the Starship hopper are a mix of Raptor development and operational parts, according to Musk.

Starship is the new name of SpaceX’s BFR. Elon Musk described it in a tweet as the spaceship needed "to escape Earth’s deep gravity well." Musk tweeted the name change last Nov. 19.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Jose Valero in New York at mvalero3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Clementine Fletcher at cfletcher5@bloomberg.net, Lauren Berry

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