From Elon Musk’s dream, to reality. Humanity is now ready to begin settling other worlds
SpaceX made significant strides on Thursday with its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket, demonstrating the potential for future recovery and reuse. The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket launched successfully from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas and achieved controlled splashdowns at sea, marking a key milestone in SpaceX’s vision for reusable space exploration. This launch is a precursor to future test flights that aim to recover both the booster and the upper stage on land for repeated use.
This is wild. Views of SpaceX’s Starship plunging through the atmosphere as the wing starts to burn up. pic.twitter.com/wHvv6bAoNP
— Christian Davenport (@wapodavenport) June 6, 2024
The two-stage rocket lifted off at 7:50 am CDT, heading over the Gulf of Mexico with more than 15 million pounds of thrust, double the power of NASA’s Saturn V from the Apollo era. This successful launch and splashdown represent a major step towards SpaceX’s goal of creating a fully reusable transportation system for crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
BREAKING: SpaceX’s Starship rocket, the largest & most powerful rocket ever, successfully lifted off today and achieved new objectives it never has before.
Amazing engineering. Congrats @SpaceX team! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/ScBYWdymWu
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 6, 2024
NASA has a vested interest in the success of Starship, as it is slated to serve as the lunar lander for the Artemis program, which will transport astronauts to and from the Moon’s surface. Although it will take dozens more flights before astronauts board the Starship lander, the goal of recovering and reusing the entire rocket seems increasingly achievable.
This fourth flight of Starship saw significant advancements. For the first time, both the booster and the ship landed in one piece, marking the best outcome for a test flight so far. Despite minor setbacks—such as the failure of two out of 33 Raptor engines on the booster—the mission was largely successful. The booster made a controlled descent and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, overcoming issues from previous flights.
Watch this cut of SpaceX’s Starship re-entering earths atmosphere.
How did this thing hold together and land? pic.twitter.com/gQMKQBuDqr
— Independent Economics (@IndependentEco) June 6, 2024
The upper stage of Starship, powered by six Raptor engines, burned slightly longer than planned to compensate for the booster’s shortfall, achieving a suborbital trajectory with a peak altitude of 132 miles. Unlike a previous flight where reentry heat caused catastrophic failure, this time Starship maintained control and completed a controlled reentry, surviving peak heating and aerodynamic pressure. Live footage showed the rocket’s reentry, with some damage to its heat shield but overall successful performance.
The flight concluded with a successful soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Despite losing some thermal protection tiles and sustaining damage to a control flap, Starship managed a controlled descent and landing burn, marking a significant achievement. This test provided valuable data, and SpaceX engineers will analyze it to improve future flights.
Looking ahead, SpaceX plans to further develop Starship’s stainless steel structure to withstand higher temperatures and enhance its robustness for reentry from both low-Earth orbit and deep space missions. The fifth test flight could occur within a few months, as SpaceX continues to refine its technology and procedures.
Future priorities include demonstrating the ability to restart a Raptor engine in space, essential for stable orbital insertion and controlled reentry. Additionally, SpaceX aims to use Starship for deploying Starlink satellites and conducting refueling tests, vital for NASA’s lunar missions. The successful recovery of the booster in the Gulf has encouraged plans to attempt an onshore landing using catch arms on the launch pad tower in upcoming flights.
With ongoing advancements and rapid development, SpaceX is poised to revolutionize space travel, making reusable rockets a reality and paving the way for more ambitious missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Elon Musk’s dream of making humanity a multi-planetary species looks to be fulfilled within the next decade or so.
Key Points:
- SpaceX successfully launched and recovered its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket for the first time, demonstrating controlled splashdowns at sea.
- The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket launched from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas, achieving a significant milestone for future reusable space travel.
- Despite minor setbacks, including the failure of two Raptor engines, the booster and Starship upper stage achieved their test objectives.
- The flight marked the fourth launch of a full-size Starship rocket and provided valuable data for improving the vehicle’s reusability and performance.
- SpaceX plans to continue testing, with the next flight potentially aiming for an onshore booster landing and demonstrating the capability to restart a Raptor engine in space.
RM Tomi – Reprinted with permission of Whatfinger News
