- SpaceX launched its Starship mega-rocket system on Tuesday for the sixth time.
- SpaceX didn’t attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster by a pair of “chopsticks” mid-air as planned.
- Starship moving towards full, rapid reusability is key to Elon Musk’s plans for Mars.
SpaceX launched its Starship mega-rocket for the sixth time on Tuesday, but the main event was canceled.
The space company successfully launched the 36-story-tall rocket system but ended up abandoning its plan to catch the Super Heavy booster upon its return to Earth with a giant pair of metal arms, nicknamed “chopsticks.”
SpaceX achieved the major feat for the first time in October, during Starship’s fifth test launch.
Elon Musk, SpaceX founder and CEO, has said his plans of building a Mars city rests on Starship.
The Starship rocket system is the largest ever built, consisting of two stages: a Super Heavy booster at the bottom and a Starship on top.
On Tuesday, Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines roared to life, heaving Starship through the skies.
After about three minutes, Super Heavy released itself and fell back to Earth.
When the catch attempt was called off, the booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico nearly seven minutes after launch while Starship continued on toward space.
SpaceX officials said on the company’s livestream that the catch wasn’t attempted this time because “strict criteria were not met” and this was a known possibility before launch.
During Starship’s fifth test flight in October, SpaceX successfully caught the Super Heavy booster with a giant pair of metal arms, nicknamed “chopsticks,” that caught it before it reached the ground.
SpaceX’s next major milestone for Starship
Ultimately, Starship is designed to be the first ever fully, rapidly reusable rocket.
SpaceX has been reusing its fleet of Falcon 9 rockets for years, but only the first stage returns for reuse, the second stage is discarded after each launch.
Moreover, the Falcon 9 first stage lands on a barge in the ocean and must be retrieved for reuse, which takes extra time.
Starship is different. Both its first-stage Super Heavy booster and second-stage Starship are designed to be rapidly reusable by returning to the launch site after lift-off.
This is SpaceX’s North Star. If the company succeeds, it could make spaceflight 10 times cheaper, and, ultimately, help humanity achieve multi-planetary status.
SpaceX’s next major goal is to prove it can consistently retrieve Super Heavy and also retrieve Starship — but that milestone remains for another day.
For this test launch, Starship splashed down in the Indian Ocean as expected about an hour and five minutes after launch.
During its flight in space, Starship fired one of its Raptor engines for the first time, proving a capability it will need during future launches to return and touch down on land.
SpaceX also chose to launch Starship in the afternoon this time instead of the early morning, so that it can better observe Starship’s landing, The New York Times reported.
SpaceX and Musk are racking up wins
Despite SpaceX not catching Super Heavy on its return to Earth, the test launch is still another successful step toward making Starship viable for orbital flights, moon landings, and eventually long journeys to and from Mars.
Tuesday’s flight came just one month after the Starship’s fifth test flight. That’s a rapid turnaround for such a major test.
Maintaining this fast pace will be critical to achieving Musk’s latest goal of sending the first Starships to Mars in just two years.
Another notable development was that President-elect Donald Trump attended the Starship launch.
Ahead of the event, Trump announced on Truth Social that he’d be in attendance, writing, “Good luck to Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project!”
Trump’s presence indicates just how influential Musk may become in the next administration, which could be a boon for space exploration.
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