SpaceX achieved a significant milestone on Sunday with the successful launch of the latest test flight of Starship, marking a key step towards its long-term space ambitions. The test flight, which took off at 8:25 a.m. ET (7:25 a.m. CT) from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, featured the powerful Super Heavy rocket booster topped with the uncrewed Starship spacecraft.
The launch window, which opened at 8 a.m. ET, allowed for a 30-minute period to carry out the liftoff. This demonstration mission marked the first time SpaceX attempted to recover the Super Heavy booster midair using a pair of massive metal arms, known as “chopsticks.” The 232-foot-tall (71-metre) booster was successfully caught, demonstrating a critical part of SpaceX's strategy to reuse rocket components.
Following the separation of the booster, the Starship spacecraft continued its journey, using its six onboard engines before practising a landing manoeuvre over the Indian Ocean. SpaceX clarified that it does not aim to recover the upper spacecraft for this particular mission, CNN reported.
ALSO READ | SpaceX Dragon Spacecraft, Which Will Bring Back Sunita Williams, Reaches Space Station — Watch NASA Video
SpaceX's Starship Takes Leap Towards Reusability With Successful Midair Booster Recovery
The company has outlined plans to eventually reuse both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. This reuse capability is deemed essential for SpaceX's goal of significantly reducing the time and costs associated with transporting cargo and crew to Earth's orbit and deep space. Reusability, already mastered with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, has allowed the company to cut costs and remain competitive in the rocket launch market, CNN's report stated.
The test flight follows previous attempts that saw both challenges and progress. The initial integrated test flight of the Starship and Super Heavy took place in April 2023, with the vehicle lifting off the launchpad before exploding over the Gulf of Mexico. The latest launch, in June, involved both the booster and spacecraft surviving re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, despite damage, and practising oceanic touchdown manoeuvres.
CEO Elon Musk has termed the use of "chopsticks" as pivotal for SpaceX's future missions. The company built a specialised tower, nicknamed "Mechazilla" for its resemblance to a metallic Godzilla, to aid in the rapid recovery process of the booster, the report stated. Musk envisions that this mechanism could allow the booster to be repositioned onto the launchpad and readied for another launch within as little as 30 minutes. He acknowledged in a July interview that the goal “sounds kind of insane,” but added, “We’re not breaking physics, so success is one of the possible outcomes here.”
According to SpaceX, the recovery attempt of the Super Heavy booster was dependent on “thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria,” including "healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s Flight Director." If any criteria had not been met, the booster would have been directed to attempt an oceanic landing.
The Starship’s development has also faced technical hurdles. Musk noted that the fourth test flight in June encountered issues with the loss of heat shield tiles, causing difficulties in controlling the vehicle during re-entry. “Because of lost tiles … the forward flaps were so melted it was like trying to control it with little skeleton hands,” Musk remarked. As a result, the flight’s landing site in the ocean was approximately 9.7 kilometres away from the intended target.
To address these challenges, SpaceX has made extensive updates to its heat shield, with over 12,000 hours spent replacing the entire thermal protection system. This upgrade aims to improve the spacecraft's resilience during re-entry, potentially facilitating more successful landings in future missions, as per the report.
This progress is critical for SpaceX's role in NASA's Artemis programme, which aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2026. The Starship capsule is expected to serve as the lunar landing vehicle for the Artemis III mission. While the recent successes bolster SpaceX’s efforts, the company continues to refine its technology to meet NASA’s ambitious timeline.