A SpaceX Raptor engine reportedly fired for 557 seconds at the company’s McGregor, Texas, test facility on October 7. NASASpaceflight documented the firing and linked viewers to its live camera at the site.
The firing lasted 9 minutes and 17 seconds. NASASpaceflight called it the second-longest firing on the Raptor North Stand, adding that the only longer one was a run-to-failure test.
How Raptor fits into Starship
Raptor is the engine family SpaceX developed for Starship and its Super Heavy booster. On its official Starship page, SpaceX describes Raptor as a reusable staged-combustion engine fueled by liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
The Starship upper stage uses six engines: three sea-level Raptors and three Raptor Vacuum engines designed for operation in space. Super Heavy uses 33 sea-level Raptors, including 13 maneuverable engines in the center of the booster.
SpaceX lists the sea-level Raptor at 250 metric tons-force, or 551,000 pounds-force, of thrust. That figure is a general specification for the engine shown on the company’s Starship page, not a measurement from the 557-second firing.
What the report does not establish
The available account does not identify the engine’s generation or serial number. It also does not disclose the test objective, thrust setting, fuel load or whether the firing was tied to a particular Starship vehicle.
Duration alone does not establish that an engine passed a qualification milestone. For now, the specific result is limited to what NASASpaceflight observed: a 557-second firing that it ranked second among tests on the North Stand.
