SpaceX pulled off the boldest test flight yet of its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with mechanical arms.
At the flight director’s command, the first-stage booster flew back to the launch pad where it had blasted off seven minutes earlier.
“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” SpaceX engineering manager Kate Tice said from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
SpaceX said both the booster and launch tower had to be in good, stable condition.
Musk said the captured Starship booster looked to be in good shape, with just a little warping of some of the outer engines from all the heat and aerodynamic forces.
On Sunday, SpaceX successfully completed the most daring test flight of its massive Starship rocket to date, using mechanical arms to capture the returning booster back at the launch pad.
Elon Musk referred to it as “science fiction without the fiction part” in a triumphant tone. “.”.
At sunrise, the deserted Starship, which stood nearly 400 feet (121 meters) tall, sped away from the southernmost point of Texas, close to the Mexican border. Just like the four Starships that came before it, it arced over the Gulf of Mexico either shortly after takeoff or as it ditched into the ocean. Up until the demonstration on Sunday, the June one had been the most successful, flying through the entire flight without exploding.
Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, increased the difficulty of the rocket he intends to use to return humans to the moon and then to Mars.
Seven minutes after it had taken off, the first-stage booster returned to the launch pad at the direction of the flight director. A 232-foot (71-meter) stainless steel booster was descending when it was grabbed by the launch tower’s hideous metal arms, known as chopsticks, and held firmly, hanging well above the ground.
Musk declared via X that the rocket had been captured by the tower. Today, a significant step was taken to make life multiplanetary. “.”.
As they jumped and pumped their fists into the air, company employees let out a scream of delight. Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated NASA for joining in the celebration.
Nelson stated that the country will be ready to land humans at the moon’s south pole if Starship undergoes more testing. The successor to Apollo, which landed 12 men on the moon over 50 years ago, is NASA’s new Artemis program.
From SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters, engineering manager Kate Tice declared, “People, this is a day for the engineering history books.”.
Company spokesperson Dan Huot, who was standing close to the launch and landing site, added, “Even in this day and age, what we just saw is magic.”. Right now, I’m trembling. “.”.
The decision to attempt the landing was made by the flight director using a manual control in real time. The launch tower and booster needed to be in stable, good condition, according to SpaceX. If not, it would have ended up like the others in the gulf. It was decided that everything was prepared for the catch.
The booster launched the retro-looking spacecraft, which flew more than 130 miles (212 kilometers) high as it continued to circle the globe. It added to the day’s accomplishment when it made a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean an hour after liftoff. As the spacecraft struck exactly where it was supposed to and sank as intended, cameras on a nearby buoy captured flames rising from the water.
“What a day,” Huot remarked. Come on, let’s prepare for the next one. “.”.
With pieces falling off, the June flight ultimately failed. SpaceX improved the thermal tiles by redesigning the heat shield and updating the software.
Since launching its smaller Falcon 9 rockets to orbit with crews and satellites from Florida or California, SpaceX has been recovering the first-stage boosters of these rockets for nine years. However, they don’t land on their launch pads; instead, they land on concrete slabs or floating ocean platforms that are miles away.
SpaceX has saved millions of dollars and increased the launch rate by recycling Falcon boosters. The largest and most potent rocket ever constructed, Starship, has 33 methane-fuel engines on the booster alone, and Musk plans to do the same for it.
According to Musk, the captured Starship booster appeared to be in good condition, with only minor warping of the outer engines caused by the heat and aerodynamic forces. He pointed out that it’s easily fixable.
For the purpose of landing humans on the moon later this decade, NASA has ordered two Starships. SpaceX plans to use Starship to transport supplies and humans to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
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