The Starship rocket is designed to generate up to 17 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, and the latest hot fire test saw the rocket generate 7.9 million pounds of thrust, meeting the test's objectives, even though two engines shut off. The upcoming orbital flight test will throttle the rocket's engines up to 90%, which will surpass the current most powerful rocket on Earth, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which generates 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

If the upcoming orbital flight test is successful, the Starship rocket will set two records. It will break the world record for the most engines fired at the same time, and it will become the most powerful rocket in history, surpassing the Soviet Union's N1 rocket, which generated 10.2 million pounds of thrust but failed on all four launch attempts.