SpaceX launched the most daring test flight of its massive Starship rocket on Sunday, catching a booster back on its launch pad with a mechanical arm.
A delighted Elon Musk called it “science fiction without the fiction.”
The empty spacecraft, nearly 121 meters tall, exploded at sunrise in the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The spacecraft taxied over the Gulf of Mexico like four previous spacecraft that were destroyed shortly after takeoff or while crashing into the ocean. Last June’s vehicle was the most successful until Sunday’s demonstration, completing the flight without exploding.
Musk, the CEO and founder of SpaceX, this time upped the ante for the rocket he would use to send people back to the Moon and Mars.
At the command of the flight director, the first stage booster flew back to the launch pad from which it had launched seven minutes earlier. The launch tower’s massive metal arms, called chopsticks, caught the 71-metre-high booster as it descended, holding it tight and suspending it above the ground.
“Top caught the rocket!!” Musk made the announcement through X. “Today, a big step has been taken toward creating life on multiple planets.”
Company employees squealed with joy and raised their fists as the stainless steel booster slowly lowered into the arms of the launcher. NASA joined in the celebration with Administrator Bill Nelson sending a congratulatory message.
“Even in this day and age, what we just saw is magic,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said near the launch site. “I’m shaking right now.”
“Folks, today is a day in engineering history,” added Kate Tice, engineering manager at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
An hour later, the empty spacecraft launched from the booster landed in the Indian Ocean as scheduled, adding to the day’s achievements.
It was up to the flight director to decide whether to attempt a landing in real time with manual control. SpaceX said both the booster and launch pad must be in good and stable condition. Otherwise you will end up in the bay like before. Everything was judged ready to catch.
The retro, stainless steel spacecraft at the top continued to circumnavigate the world after being released from its booster. Cameras mounted on buoys in the Indian Ocean showed flames shooting out of the water as the booster struck precisely on target and sank as planned.
“It was a really good day,” Huot said. “Let’s prepare for the next one.”
The June flight fell short at the end after pieces fell off. SpaceX upgraded the software and reworked the heat sink to improve thermal tiles.
SpaceX has been recovering the first stage booster for its small Falcon 9 rocket for nine years after sending satellites and crews into orbit from Florida or California. But they land on offshore platforms or concrete slabs miles from the launch pad.
Recycling Falcon boosters boosts launch speeds and saves SpaceX millions of dollars Musk plans to do the same with Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket in history, with 33 methane-fueled engines in the boosters alone. NASA ordered two spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon in late 2010. SpaceX plans to use Starship to send people and supplies to the moon and, ultimately, Mars.
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