SpaceX Starship Remains World's Tallest and Most Powerful Rocket

OPA WIRE, Nov 1 (OPA) — Standing at 407 feet, the fully stacked SpaceX Starship exceeds the height of the Statue of Liberty and the Hyperion tree. The vehicle consists of the 236.2-foot Super Heavy booster and the 170.6-foot Starship spacecraft. During the September 28, 2026, launch, the system generated 18.1 million pounds-force of liftoff thrust, surpassing the power of previous iterations and NASA’s Space Launch System, which produces between 8.8 million and 9.4 million pounds of thrust.

The Super Heavy booster utilizes 33 Raptor engines fueled by liquid methane and liquid oxygen to achieve its record-breaking thrust. Once the booster separates, the Starship upper stage engages three standard Raptor engines and three vacuum-optimized engines, providing an additional 3.5 million pounds-force of thrust. The entire architecture is engineered to manage a combined propellant capacity of 5,250 metric tons, requiring precise staging and engine efficiency to overcome the massive weight of the hardware.

SpaceX designed the system to facilitate deep-space transport, though current mission profiles for NASA’s Artemis program necessitate orbital refueling. Because the Starship lunar lander consumes a significant portion of its propellant to reach Earth orbit, the mission architecture relies on a specialized propellant depot and tanker Starships. These vessels must dock and transfer fuel before the lander can proceed to lunar orbit, presenting a complex technical requirement for cryogenic propellant storage in space.

The development of the Starship system represents a shift toward fully reusable launch vehicles capable of carrying both cargo and crew beyond Earth orbit. While the rocket’s immense power is necessary to fight gravity, the long-term viability of the program depends on the successful execution of orbital refueling and the recovery of both the booster and the spacecraft. SpaceX continues to refine the system to support NASA’s goal of returning humans to the lunar surface.