A rocket trip to Paris-New York in 30 minutes? It seems like a utopia taken from sci-fi scenarios… not for SpaceX. The American company specializing in Elon Musk’s spaceflight wants to offer long-distance intercontinental rocket flights… within five years. Invited to the microphone at RTL, on Monday, September 12, the president of the company, Gwynne Shotwell, did not hide SpaceX’s ambitions.
“In five years, will we be able to take off from France and be in New York in less than an hour?” Asked our colleague. “Yes!”, the manager answered without hesitation. Before we continue: “It’s really an opportunity for our Starship rocket. At the moment we’re focusing on the Moon, on Mars, but also on flights from one point to another on Earth.” Launched at more than 17,000 mph, the rocket would connect Paris to New York in about thirty minutes.
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Launch from platforms at sea
Other scheduled routes: Los Angeles-Shanghai in 36 minutes or Sydney-Zurich in 50 minutes. To achieve this feat, the American company plans, as a first step, to launch its rockets from platforms at sea. firm,” said Gwynne Shotwell, who seemed confident in the feasibility of these flights.
“I’ve worked for Space X for twenty years. I’ve seen this company start with a few engineers. Then employees built rockets, then they flew astronauts, then they delivered hardware to the International Space Station, then we flew private astronauts for the first time, she explained. We did a lot of really interesting things.”
It remains to be seen how much it will cost to make such trips … And on this point, the president of SpaceX did not give any details …
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