SpaceX successfully catches Super Heavy booster after launching Starship’s fifth flight

You May Be Interested In:RFK Jr. is steering public health agencies off a cliff


SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the pad after liftoff to be caught by the launch tower’s mechanical arms in an incredible feat Sunday morning. The milestone came during the fifth flight of the company’s Starship, and is a huge step for the rocket’s planned reusability. Starship launched at about 8:25AM ET from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas Starbase.

Landing rockets is nothing new for SpaceX, which has now been reusing its Falcon 9 workhorse for several years, but the company took a completely different approach for recapturing Super Heavy. Whereas Falcon 9 typically lands on a drone ship out in the ocean, Super Heavy returned to its launch site and had to navigate into the narrow opening between the launch tower’s outstretched “chopsticks.” The move risked destroying the tower if Super Heavy didn’t pull it off correctly. It did, though, and live footage from the flight test shows the booster neatly parking itself back at the tower to thunderous cheering from everyone watching from the viewing room.

Starship, meanwhile, continued on its flight for about an hour after separating from the booster and splashed down in the Indian Ocean as planned around 9:30AM ET. The entire Starship transportation system, consisting of the Super Heavy first stage and the Starship second stage, is designed to be reusable.

share Paylaş facebook pinterest whatsapp x print

Similar Content

Amazon Spring Sale tech deals: The best discounts from Apple, Bose, Sonos, Beats, Anker and others
Amazon Spring Sale tech deals: The best sales you can still get from Apple, Bose, iRobot, Dyson and others
Hyper Light Breaker will begin Steam early access on January 14
Hyper Light Breaker will begin Steam early access on January 14
Fumito Ueda's follow-up to The Last Guardian is an untitled dark sci-fi game
Fumito Ueda’s follow-up to The Last Guardian is an untitled dark sci-fi game
Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch review (2024): Brace yourself for M4 speed
Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch review (2024): Brace yourself for M4 speed
Dutch police say they've taken down Redline and Meta credential stealer malware
Dutch police say they’ve taken down Redline and Meta credential stealer malware
Extremely OK Games cancels Earthblade
Extremely OK Games cancels Earthblade
The News Observer | © 2024 | News