BOCA CHICA, Texas – SpaceX’s fifth test flight of its massive Starship rocket completed a “catching” primary objective: the first-ever return and catch of a Super Heavy booster.
Following what SpaceX called a tremendous success with Starship’s fourth test flight back in June — reporting the launch vehicle managed to survive reentry — Sunday’s flight in Texas showed up the last launch with spectacle, cheers and fireballs.
After what SpaceX says has been years of preparation and testing, its engineers have finally managed to catch the Super Heavy booster after launch, furthering SpaceX’s ultimate goal of full and rapid reusability for Starship.
Extensive upgrades ahead of this flight test have been made to hardware and software across Super Heavy, Starship, and the launch and catch tower infrastructure at Starbase. SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success. We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and the return will only be attempted if conditions are right.
Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch attempt of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s Flight Director. If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
STARSHIP'S FIFTH FLIGHT TEST | SpaceX (excerpt)
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Another key upgrade since Starship’s prior launch was a reworked heat shield, what SpaceX said in a statement took technicians some 12,000 hours replacing the rocket’s thermal protection system with newer-generation tiles, now all at the bottom of the Indian Ocean following an explosive “belly flop” on-target landing.
Watch the launch again in the video player below or by clicking here.
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