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的星際飛船火箭成功完成了其第五次重大試飛，其中包括首次在發射塔上 「捕獲」 助推器，這是一項具有里程碑意義的成就。
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.
發生了什麼：被吹捧爲有史以來最強大的火箭的星際飛船於紐約時間上午8點25分起飛。在推動星際飛船進入太空後，超級重型助推器返回了地球上的發射場。
The booster was then "caught" by two arms extending from Starship's launch tower, marking a significant accomplishment for SpaceX.
然後，助推器被從星際飛船發射塔伸出的兩隻手臂 「抓住」，這標誌着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.
彭博社報道，在網絡直播中，SpaceX工程師傑西·安德森將這次捕獲比作 「試圖抓住我的眼淚，就像筷子抓住助推器一樣」。
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.
發射後回收星際飛船的助推器是SpaceX的關鍵一步，因爲SpaceX正在爲火箭做好商業運營準備。該飛行器在SpaceX首席執行官埃隆·馬斯克將人類送上月球和火星的雄心勃勃的計劃中發揮了關鍵作用。
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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.
與只能部分重複使用的獵鷹9號火箭不同，馬斯克一直表示星際飛船將完全可重複使用。SpaceX的最終目標是完全回收飛行器的兩個主要組件：星際飛船和超級重型助推器。
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·馬斯克 (@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.
這將允許在一天內進行多次星際飛船飛行，從而大大降低發射星際飛船的成本。
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.
這次試飛也標誌着SpaceX首次嘗試使用Super Heavy完成這項壯舉。該任務是在馬斯克公開批評美國聯邦航空局商業太空發射許可證的批准程序緩慢的情況下進行的。
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.
爲何重要：儘管成功捕獲了助推器，但星際飛船的飛行與6月的飛行基本相似。在飛行器降落時，它的一些襟翼似乎略微燒燬了，但是星際飛船設法在墜落中倖存下來，然後自翻並重新啓動引擎，降落在印度洋，隨後似乎爆炸了。
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繼續將這些試飛期間的飛行器丟失視爲改進的機會，而不是失敗的機會，每次新的發射都會實現更多的目標。
