For the first time, SpaceX “catches” mega rocket booster after test flight

For the first time, SpaceX “catches” mega rocket booster after test flight

By Sergio Flores with Issam Ahmed in Washington

Boca Chica, United States (AFP), Oct. 13, 2024

SpaceX successfully “captured” the first booster of its Starship mega-rocket on Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight – a world first in the company’s quest for rapid reusability.

The “super-heavy booster” had been blown up attached to the Starship rocket a few minutes earlier and then made a beautifully controlled return to the same launch site in Texas, where a pair of giant mechanical “chopsticks” from the launch tower were enough to deliver it According to a livestream from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, the slowly descending booster came to a halt.

“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” a SpaceX spokesman said in a voiceover on the company’s livestream after the launch vehicle was safely in the tower’s grasp and company employees erupted in cheers.

“The tower caught the rocket!!” SpaceX founder Musk posted on X.

The launch took place at 7:25 a.m. (1225 GMT) in clear weather. As the launch vehicle returned to the launch pad, the spacecraft’s upper stage was expected to sink into the Indian Ocean within an hour.

On its most recent flight in June, SpaceX made the first successful water drop on Starship, a prototype spacecraft that Musk hopes will one day carry humans to Mars.

NASA is also eagerly awaiting a modified version of Starship to serve as a landing vehicle for manned flights to the moon as part of the Artemis program later this decade.

SpaceX said its engineers “spent years preparing for the booster capture attempt and testing it for months, with engineers putting tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances of success.”

Teams monitored to ensure “thousands” of criteria were met on both the vehicle and turret before attempting to return the Super Heavy booster.

Had the conditions not been met, the booster would have been diverted for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.

Instead, after being given the green light, the returning booster decelerated from supersonic speed and was embraced by the powerful “rod arms.”

– “Fail fast, learn fast” –

The large mechanical arms, dubbed “Mechazilla” by Musk, have caused great excitement among space enthusiasts.

Including both stages, Starship stands 397 feet (121 meters) tall – about 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Its 233-foot-tall Super Heavy booster produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 meganewtons) of thrust, about twice as powerful as the Saturn V rockets used during the Apollo missions.

SpaceX’s “fail fast, learn fast” strategy of rapid iterative testing, even as its rockets explode spectacularly, ultimately accelerated development and contributed to the company’s success.

Founded in 2002, the company quickly overtook the giants of the aerospace industry and is now the world leader in orbital launches. Additionally, it is the only U.S. spacecraft currently certified to carry astronauts.

It has also created the world’s largest Internet satellite constellation – invaluable in disaster and war zones.

Related links

Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com