SpaceX Notches Another Milestone With First Booster Catch
SpaceX Notches Another Milestone With First Booster Catch
During the live webcast, SpaceX engineer In a landmark achievement, SpaceX's Starship rocket has successfully completed its fifth major test flight, which included a first-of-its-kind "catch" of the booster back at the launch tower.
SpaceX的星际飞船火箭成功完成了其第五次重大试飞，其中包括首次在发射塔上 “捕获” 助推器，这是一项具有里程碑意义的成就。
What Happened: The Starship, touted as the most powerful rocket ever built, took off at 8:25 a.m. New York time. After propelling Starship into space, the Super Heavy booster made its way back to the launch site on Earth.
发生了什么：被吹捧为有史以来最强大的火箭的星际飞船于纽约时间上午8点25分起飞。在推动星际飞船进入太空后，超级重型助推器返回了地球上的发射场。
The booster was then "caught" by two arms extending from Starship's launch tower, marking a significant accomplishment for SpaceX.
然后，助推器被从星际飞船发射塔伸出的两只手臂 “抓住”，这标志着SpaceX取得的重大成就。
During the live webcast, SpaceX engineer Jessie Anderson likened the catch to "trying to catch my tears just like the chopsticks caught the booster," reports Bloomberg.
彭博社报道，在网络直播中，SpaceX工程师杰西·安德森将这次捕获比作 “试图抓住我的眼泪，就像筷子抓住助推器一样”。
The recovery of Starship's booster after launch is a pivotal step for SpaceX as it gears up the rocket for commercial operations. The vehicle plays a key role in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's ambitious plans of sending humans to the moon and Mars.
发射后回收星际飞船的助推器是SpaceX的关键一步，因为SpaceX正在为火箭做好商业运营准备。该飞行器在SpaceX首席执行官埃隆·马斯克将人类送上月球和火星的雄心勃勃的计划中发挥了关键作用。
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Unlike the Falcon 9 rockets, which are only partially reusable, Musk has consistently stated that Starship will be fully reusable. SpaceX's ultimate objective is to fully recover the vehicle's two main components: the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster.
与只能部分重复使用的猎鹰9号火箭不同，马斯克一直表示星际飞船将完全可重复使用。SpaceX的最终目标是完全回收飞行器的两个主要组件：星际飞船和超级重型助推器。
The tower has caught the rocket!!
pic.twitter.com/CPXsHJBdUh— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2024
塔抓住了火箭！！
pic.twitter.com/cpxshjbdu— 埃隆·马斯克 (@elonmusk) 2024 年 10 月 13 日
This would allow for multiple Starship flights in a single day, significantly cutting down the cost of launching Starship.
这将允许在一天内进行多次星际飞船飞行，从而大大降低发射星际飞船的成本。
The test flight also marked the first time SpaceX attempted this feat with Super Heavy. The mission was conducted amidst Musk's public criticism of the FAA's slow approval process for commercial space launch licenses.
这次试飞也标志着SpaceX首次尝试使用Super Heavy完成这项壮举。该任务是在马斯克公开批评美国联邦航空局商业太空发射许可证的批准程序缓慢的情况下进行的。
Why It Matters: Despite the successful booster catch, Starship's flight was largely similar to its June flight. Some of its flaps seemed to burn up slightly during the vehicle's descent, but Starship managed to survive the plunge before flipping itself and reigniting its engines to splash down in the Indian Ocean, where it subsequently seemed to explode.
为何重要：尽管成功捕获了助推器，但星际飞船的飞行与6月的飞行基本相似。在飞行器降落时，它的一些襟翼似乎略微烧毁了，但是星际飞船设法在坠落中幸存下来，然后自翻并重新启动引擎，降落在印度洋，随后似乎爆炸了。
SpaceX continues to view the loss of its vehicles during these test flights as opportunities for improvement rather than failures, with each new launch achieving more goals.
SpaceX继续将这些试飞期间的飞行器丢失视为改进的机会，而不是失败的机会，每次新的发射都会实现更多的目标。
