Amazing moment as SpaceX catches giant Starship booster: ScienceAlert

For the first time ever, SpaceX conducted a Starship test launch, returning the Super Heavy carrier for a targeted catch in the arms of its “Mechazilla” launch tower in Texas.

“This is a day for the technology history books,” said SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice.

Today’s successful capture marks a major step toward using – and reusing – Starship for missions ranging from satellite deployments to NASA’s lunar missions to migrations to Mars.

The amazing catch came minutes after Super Heavy launched Starship’s second stage, known as Ship, into space for the launch system’s fifth test flight. The launch occurred at 7:25 a.m. CT (1225 UTC) from SpaceX’s Starbase on the coast of South Texas.

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Although the main objective of the test was to ensure that the ship survived re-entry into the atmosphere and landed unscathed in the Indian Ocean, the Super Heavy booster was the star of the show.

Super Heavy is not designed to touch down on landing legs, as is the case with SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9. Instead, SpaceX opted for a rocket interceptor system at the launch site to maximize the launch vehicle’s payload capacity and minimize the required turnaround time. Perfecting the Mechazilla catch is therefore an essential part of SpaceX’s strategy for rapid rocket reusability.

The feat required the utmost precision in the launch vehicle’s autonomous descent back through the atmosphere. It had to position itself precisely between Mechazilla’s adjustable arms, also called “chopsticks,” and hover while the mechanism securing the missile was activated.

If something had gone wrong, Super Heavy would have been diverted into the Gulf of Mexico instead of returning to the launch pad after the stage separation. Luckily everything went well.

“Even in this day and age, what we just saw looks like magic,” said launch commentator Dan Huot after the launch vehicle shut off its engines and got stuck on its launch tower.

Today’s test of Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, went according to plan from launch to blastoff. All 33 of the booster’s methane-fueled Raptor engines were fired for liftoff, and 13 of the Raptors powered the Super Heavy’s return to the launch site.

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The second stage continued at orbital speed on a suborbital test trajectory, increasing to about 200 kilometers (124 miles). An hour after takeoff, the ship restarted three of its own Raptor engines and performed an autonomous descent to its destination in the Indian Ocean.

During SpaceX’s fourth Starship test flight in June, the spacecraft was damaged on the way down but survived a water accident. The ship’s thermal protection system has been strengthened for today’s test.

Video views of the rocket’s flaps sent to Earth via SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network showed heat building up on the control surfaces. Sparks flew during the descent, but eventually the flaps cooled – drawing applause from SpaceX employees watching the feed.

Minutes later, the rocket’s video stream showed the ship diving vertically into the water, and then another stream from a nearby buoy showed the ship flaming as it rocked on the surface.

“What an incredible end to Starship’s journey,” Tice said.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk welcomed the results in a post on his social media platform X: “The ship landed exactly at its destination!” he wrote. “Second of the two goals achieved.”

Data from the test flight will be used to fine-tune the launch system for future testing, using Starship hardware stacked on the Starbase. Ultimately, SpaceX aims to make the entire system fully reusable.

“We just got a booster,” Huot said. “We’ll start checking soon to see when we can catch a ship.”

Starship could be used to accelerate the deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites and potentially also enable point-to-point travel between terrestrial destinations.

NASA relies on SpaceX to provide a modified version of Starship to serve as a lander for manned Artemis missions starting in 2026.

“As we prepare to return to the Moon under Artemis, further testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead – including the South Pole region of the Moon and then on to Mars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a congratulatory message sent to X.

SpaceX plans to use Starship for missions to Mars, ranging from unmanned flights that could launch as early as 2026 to crewed flights that could bring permanent residents to the Red Planet. Musk is reportedly planning to build a city on Mars by the 2040s – and Starship is key to his plan.

“Today a major step toward multiplanetary life was taken,” Musk wrote on X.

This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.