The SpaceX Starship lifts off from Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on 13 October, 2024, for the Starship Flight 5 test. SpaceX successfully โcaughtโ the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the companyโs quest for rapid reusability.
SpaceX on Sunday successfully flew the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket back to the launch pad after a test flight, a technical tour de force that furthers the companyโs quest for rapid reusability.
The โsuper heavy boosterโ had blasted off attached to the un-crewed Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas, where a pair of huge mechanical โchopsticksโ reached out from the launch tower to bring the slowly descending booster to a halt, according to a livestream from Elon Muskโs SpaceX company.
Not long afterward, the upper stage of Starship splashed down, as planned, in the Indian Ocean, a development saluted by Musk on X. โShip landed precisely on target!โ he said of the vehicleโs fifth test flight. โSecond of the two objectives achieved.โ
The successful โcatchingโ of the booster at its Texas launch pad had company staffers erupting in cheers. โFolks, this is a day for the engineering history books,โ a SpaceX spokesperson said on the companyโs livestream.
Liftoff occurred at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) in clear weather from the SpaceX facility in southern Texas. During its last flight in June, SpaceX achieved its first successful splashdown with Starship, a prototype spaceship that Musk hopes will one day carry humans to Mars.
Starshipโs Super Heavy Booster is grappled at the launch pad in Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on 13 October, 2024, during the Starship Flight 5 test. SpaceX successfully โcaughtโ the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the companyโs quest for rapid reusability.
US space agency NASA, which congratulated SpaceX on its successful test, is also keenly awaiting a modified version of Starship to act as a lander vehicle for crewed flights to the Moon under the Artemis programme later this decade.
SpaceX said its engineers have โspent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success.โ
Teams were monitoring to ensure โthousandsโ of criteria were met both on the vehicle and at the tower before any attempt to return the booster. Had the conditions not been satisfied, it would have been redirected for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.
Instead, having been given the green light, the returning booster decelerated from supersonic speeds and the powerful โchopstick armsโ embraced it.
The SpaceX Starship lifts off from Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, on 13 October, 2024, for the Starship Flight 5 test. SpaceX successfully โcaughtโ the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the companyโs quest for rapid reusability.
โFail fast, learn fastโ
The large mechanical arms, called โMechazillaโ by Musk, have generated considerable excitement among space enthusiasts.
Video posted by SpaceX showed the booster slowly descending, its bottom wobbling slowly to and fro as some of its 33 powerful engines corrected its descent, until the arms closed gently around it and held the huge device in place above the ground.
Starship stands 397 feet (121 meters) tall with both stages combined โ about 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Its Super Heavy booster, which is 233 feet tall, produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 Meganewtons) of thrust, about twice as powerful as the Saturn V rockets used during the Apollo missions.
SpaceXโs โfail fast, learn fastโ strategy of rapid iterative testing, even when its rockets blow up spectacularly, has ultimately accelerated development and contributed to the companyโs success.
