SpaceX Achieves a Giant Booster in Starpship's

Short Synopsis: SpaceX achieved a world-first by catching its Super Heavy booster with mechanical arms during the 5th Starship test flight on October 13, 2024. This major milestone is a big step toward reusable rockets, which are crucial for future Moon and Mars missions. Despite a fiery end to Starship’s splashdown, the mission was a success.

Watch Starship's fifth flight test https://t.co/LVrCnTv797— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2024

SpaceX marks the milestone of reusability rocket technology

On 13th Oct. 2024, the SpaceX company launched its 5th prototype test flight at the Boca Chica, Texas facility. It successfully snagged the booster from space and caught it during the recovery-with this, marking it a world first in rocket reusability, just like the first shot of the test when the rocket completed orbit with a payload of 100 tonnes.

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Revolutionary Mechanism: Tower-Catch Mechanism in Rocket Recovery

The Super Heavy booster, which powered the rocket's first stage, took off at 7:25 a.m. CT (1225 GMT), breaking free at 70 km (40 miles) altitude. The fascination, however, was when the booster headed back to Earth. And in stark contrast to just launching into the sky, it was caught mid-air by two giant arms attached to the launch tower. This is meant to expedite rocket recovery for a more effective reusability, making the dream of fully reusable rockets by SpaceX a possibility.

SpaceX achieved a world-first by catching its Super Heavy booster

Musk's Most Significant Milestone

The head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, could hardly contain his excitement when he celebrated catching the booster, "The tower has caught the rocket!!". He announced via X, and all the engineers at SpaceX watching the live stream cheered with excitement.

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Starship Flies and Lands

While the booster was being caught, the second-stage Starship did its job. It flew to an altitude of 89 miles above Earth, travelling at 17,000 miles per hour, before splashing down in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia after nearly 90 minutes. The reentry of Starship was smoother this time with the new improved heat shield tiles that protected it from extreme temperatures.

Blazing finish to a test flight

Starship, after having re-entered Earth's atmosphere, turned to attempt a controlled landing. In what seems to be a terrible accident, however, the rocket swiftly exploded shortly after splashdown. It is yet known whether the explosion was due to an engineering design or problems with rocket fuel. Nonetheless, SpaceX engineers were over the moon because the mission successfully accomplished its primary objectives.

SpaceX Test Flight

A Giant Leap for Future Space Travel

This test flight means SpaceX takes another step closer to a fully reusable space vehicle. It will be key in future missions headed to the Moon and eventually to Mars.

Inputs by Agencies

Image Source: Multiple Agencies