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.
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.
The booster was then "caught" by two arms extending from Starship's launch tower, marking a significant accomplishment for SpaceX.
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.
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.
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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.
The tower has caught the rocket!!
pic.twitter.com/CPXsHJBdUh— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2024
This would allow for multiple Starship flights in a single day, significantly cutting down the cost of launching Starship.
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.
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.
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.
