Today, SpaceX’s Mechazilla service tower «caught the first stage of the Starship’s Super Heavy Flight 5 rocket on its way back.
On October 13, at 15:32 Kyiv time, after a successful launch, the first stage of the rocket returned directly to the launch table, into the moving robotic arms of Mechazilla from an altitude of 70 km. This is the first practical confirmation of the Starship launch model, whereby launch vehicles return to the launch pad and, after a quick automatic maintenance and refueling, are ready for the next launch in a few hours.
Big step towards making life multiplanetary was made today https://t.co/dwE5MExToI
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2024
«Today, a big step has been taken towards making life multi-planetary», — Elon Musk wrote.
«This is the day for engineering history books. This is absolutely crazy! On the very first try, we successfully caught the super-heavy launch vehicle on the launch tower,» said Kate Theis, SpaceX’s manager of quality systems development.
«Even in this day and age, what we just saw looked like magic,» says Dan Huot, a SpaceX spokesman.
The test launch of the SpaceX carrier went as planned. After the launch, the first and second stages were hotly separated, and the latter also landed softly in the Indian Ocean. The problem was burned out «fins» rockets due to metal melting due to friction with the atmosphere, despite the added protection elements. It looks like SpaceX will need to work on this.
The next test is expected in a few months, after analyzing today’s launch and obtaining permission from the US Federal Aviation Administration. Permission for today’s launch was received one month ahead of schedule.
Sources: Alpha Centauri, Space.com
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