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SpaceX just fueled up its giant Starship rocket, checking another box ahead of the vehicle's fourth test flight.

The company performed a "wet dress rehearsal" with Starship at its Starbase site in South Texas today (May 20), filling both of the vehicle's stages with supercold liquid oxygen and liquid methane in a key prelaunch test.

"Launch rehearsal for Flight 4 complete," SpaceX said in a post on X today, which also shared four photos of the procedure.

Related: Relive SpaceX Starship's 3rd flight test in breathtaking photos

SpaceX is developing Starship to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other ambitious tasks. And the company already has customers lined up. A few years ago, for instance, NASA selected Starship as the first crewed lander for its Artemis program of lunar exploration.

The vehicle consists of two stainless-steel stages, both of which are designed to be fully reusable: a huge booster called Super Heavy and a 165-foot-tall (50 meters) spacecraft known as Starship, or simply "Ship."

When these two stages are stacked, Starship stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall higher than any rocket ever built. It's also the most powerful launcher in history, boasting about 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. That's nearly twice as much thrust as NASA'sSpace Launch Systemmoon rocket.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

That thrust comes courtesy of Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines. Ship, for its part, is powered by six Raptors. The engines burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane, propellants that can be sourced on Mars, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has stressed.

Starship has flown three times to date, in April 2023, November 2023 and March 14 of this year.

The debut flight didn't last long; Starship's two stages failed to separate, and SpaceX detonated the vehicle intentionally four minutes after launch. Starship achieved stage separation on flight two, which lasted twice as long. Flight three was even better, coming to an end about 50 minutes after liftoff when Ship broke apart upon reentry to Earth's atmosphere.

The main goal of the upcoming flight four "is getting through max reentry heating," Musk said via X today.

SpaceX aims to launch flight four in about two weeks, he added in the X post. However, the timing may not be entirely up to the company.

SpaceX has applied for a Starship launch license modification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), for example, a request that is apparently still pending. The FAA is also overseeing an investigation into what happened on Starship's third flight.

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SpaceX fuels up Starship megarocket ahead of 4th test flight (photos) - Space.com

SpaceX launced a pioneering set of spy satellites for the U.S. government early on Wednesday morning (May 22).

A Falcon 9 rocket carried the NROL-146 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to space after liftoff from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base at 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT; 1 a.m. local California time).

We don't know much about the payloads sent to space as part of the NROL-146 mission, which isn't surprising; the NRO typically reveals little about its satellites' activities and capabilities. For the same reason, there was no footage of the stages of the Falcon 9 rocket separating.

Related: SpaceX launches US spy satellite, lands rocket in flawless Easter flight

Around six minutes after launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket began its entry burn, a key step in its safe return to Earth.

The first stage touched down on the drone ship Of Course I still Love You, stationed in the Pacific Ocean, around nine minutes after launch. This was the 16th launch and landing for this particular Falcon 9 first stage rocket, according to SpaceX.

In a prelaunch mission description, NRO stated that NROL-146 will be "the first launch of NRO's proliferated architecture." The agency explained a bit more about that architecture when discussing the mission's tagline, "Strength in Numbers."

That motto "describes the NRO's new strategy of a proliferated overhead architecture numerous, smaller satellites designed for capability and resilience," NRO officials wrote.

It's therefore probably safe to assume that multiple small satellites launched as part of the NROL-146 misison, rather than a single bulky spacecraft.

Editor's note: This story was updated on May 22 with news of successful launch and rocket landing.

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A SpaceX mission descriptiondidn't say where the satellites are headed or give an expected time for their deployment, details that SpaceX usually includes for non-classified missions.

Wednesday morning's launch was the 52nd orbital liftoff for SpaceX in 2024. Of this year's 52 launches to date, 36 have been devoted to building out the company's Starlink broadband constellation.

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SpaceX launches next-gen US spy satellites and sticks the landing (video) - Yahoo! Voices

On Wednesday, May 22 at 1:00 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched the NROL-146 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The mission was described as the first launch of NROs proliferated architecture, delivering critical space-based ISR to the nation. The NRO officials wrote that the motto describes the NRONROs new strategy of a proliferated overhead architecture numerous, smaller satellites designed for capability and resilience.

Because the mission was secretive there was no footage of the stages of the Falcon 9 rocket separating.

This was the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9, and nine Starlink missions. This was the 52nd orbital liftoff for SpaceX in 2024 in which 36 have been dedicated to building the Starlink broadband constellation.

SpaceX is now targeting Wednesday, May 22 for a Falcon 9 launch of the NROL-146 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff is aimed for 1:00 a.m. PT, with backup opportunities available until 3:28 a.m. PT. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Thursday, May 23 starting at 1:14 a.m. PT.

A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about 10 minutes prior to liftoff. Watch live.

This is the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9, and nine Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.Edit Post

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#NROL146 is scheduled to launch on a @SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base (@SLDelta30) May 19! This is the first launch of NROs proliferated architecture, delivering critical space-based ISR to the nation.

This is the first batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Gen. Stephen Whiting, #USSPACECOM commander, hosted the Spring 2024 Commanders Conference where component command teams, joint directors, and experts discussed major planning efforts, advancing USSPACECOMs mission to deter aggression in space.

Troy Meink, principal deputy director, spoke about #NROL146 at Space Symposium 39, This launch will be the first launch of an actual operational system. This system will increase timeliness of access, diversity of communication paths and enhance our resilience.

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UPDATE SpaceX launches NROL146 on next gen spy mission sending the first reconnaissance satellite constellation ... - SatNews

SpaceX continues gearing up for the fourth test flight of its Starship megarocket, which could be just around the corner.

Technicians recently stacked the Starship rocket that will conduct the flight, placing its "Ship" upper stage atop its "Super Heavy" first-stage booster on the orbital launch mount at SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas. The company posted a video and photos of this operation, which was performed using the "chopstick" arms of Starbase's giant launch tower, on X yesterday (May 15).

"Full stack of Flight 4 Starship," SpaceX wrote in the post.

Related: Relive SpaceX Starship's 3rd flight test in breathtaking photos

Starship stacking is a dramatic and impressive sight. There's a striking juxtaposition of mechanical and natural beauty, for example, as a gleaming silver rocket rises amid shrub-studded seaside dunes. And that 400-foot-tall (122 meters) rocket is bigger and more powerful than any other launch vehicle humanity has ever built.

The stacking follows earlier testing performed separately with Flight 4's Super Heavy and Ship. SpaceX has already ignited the Raptor engines of both vehicles on the launch mount, in common and brief prelaunch trials known as static fires.

Starship's three test flights occurred in April 2023, November 2023 and March 14 of this year.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

The giant rocket's performance has improved on each successive liftoff. The debut, for instance, ended after just four minutes when Starship's two stages failed to separate. Starship doubled that flight time on the second launch and also achieved stage separation. Flight number three lasted nearly 50 minutes, ending when Ship broke apart upon reentry to Earth's atmosphere.

Flight number four could lift off in just three to five weeks, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said recently.

There are still some logistical hurdles to clear, however: SpaceX applied for a Starship launchlicense modification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which is overseeing an investigation into what happened on the March 14 mission. That modification has apparently not been approved yet.

Read more here:

SpaceX stacks Starship megarocket ahead of 4th test flight (video, photos) - Space.com

The Defense Department is working with Elon Musks SpaceX to find and disable Starlink satellite internet terminals that have fallen into Russian hands, but the problem is not going away, a top Pentagon official said Tuesday.

SpaceXs Starlink terminals enabled Ukrainian forces to communicate with each other and with their families after Russias 2022 invasion had shut down Ukraines internet and telephone services. But The Wall Street Journal reported in April that thousands of Starlink terminals have migrated to the black market, where Russia has obtained them and is using them to aid its operations in Ukraine.

Russias use of the system has reportedly slowed and disrupted the service for Ukrainians. Other U.S. foes and war criminals in the Mideast, Africa and Southeast Asia have also obtained the terminals, according to the report.

Reports indicate that Russia has been able to buy Starlink terminals on the black market and that SpaceX has not cut off their access, and that provides a major advantage to Russia on the battlefield, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said at a Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Warren wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III seeking answers about the diversion of hardware from SpaceX, a U.S. defense contractor.

Congress has a constitutional responsibility to make sure that taxpayer money does not go to companies that undermine U.S. national security goals, Warren said at Tuesdays hearing. So I think its critical that we get to the bottom of this.

John Hill, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for space and missile defense, said in response to questions from Warren that the department is scouring classified and public data to find and shut down the terminals and suggested it has had some success. He said the push is partly led by a commercial integration cell composed of contractor and government personnel and located at the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

But Hill could not provide any guarantees about the extent to which the cat-and-mouse initiative would succeed in addressing the problem. When Warren asked Hill if he has confidence the Pentagon can identify illicit Russian use of Starlink services and completely shut them off, Hill responded, I think this will be a continuous problem.

To that, Warren replied, I take that as a no.

Hill assured Warren that SpaceX has been cooperative and forward leaning in assisting the search for illicit Starlink terminals.

SpaceX complies with our contracts, and they comply with the licenses they have from regulatory entities who can enforce those licenses, Hill added.

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Pentagon pursuing Russian use of Musks Starlink terminals - Roll Call