SpaceX · 11 Oct 2026
Starship's Super Heavy booster leaves the pad with 8,240 tonnes of thrust, more than the weight of the Eiffel Tower's entire iron frame.
That number comes from SpaceX's own Starship spec sheet. It's 33 Raptor engines firing at the same time.
NASA puts the Saturn V that carried Apollo to the Moon at 7.5 million pounds of thrust. SpaceX lists Super Heavy at 18.1 million, more than double.
The Eiffel Tower's operator gives its metal structure as 7,300 tonnes.
And a few minutes after liftoff, that same booster flies back and is caught by the tower's arms.
I still can't picture that much force leaving the ground.
