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13th October 2024

SpaceX achieves major milestone in spaceflight

SpaceX has today achieved the first successful return and capture of a Super Heavy booster from Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever to fly.

 

 

In a historic moment for spaceflight, SpaceX today successfully completed Starship flight test 5, marking a major leap forward for both the company and the future of space exploration.

This test, conducted at Boca Chica in Texas, saw the launch of Ship 30 (S30) atop a Super Heavy booster, standing a combined 120 m (394 ft) in height, which is taller than the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo era. Following a near-flawless liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and coast, the Super Heavy booster executed a controlled descent, before being captured by the chopstick arms of the company's new "Mechazilla" tower.

This marks the first time that SpaceX has successfully recovered the massive booster component of Starship, a major milestone in their ambition to create a fully reusable orbital transportation system.

 

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SpaceX has come a long way since 2002. Elon Musk founded the company that year with a vision to revolutionise space travel by making it more affordable. Developments since then have included the first private rocket to reach orbit (Falcon 1 in 2008), the first commercially built spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (Dragon in 2012), the first vertical landing of an orbital-class rocket (Falcon 9 in 2015), and the first private company to launch astronauts into space (Crew Dragon capsule in 2020) as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Today's success reaffirms the company's place at the cutting edge of spaceflight technology. Starship is central to NASA's Artemis programme, which aims to return humans to the Moon later this decade. SpaceX won a contract to develop a lunar-optimised version of Starship, which will be used to land astronauts on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis 3 mission, currently scheduled for 2027. If all goes according to plan, this mission will be the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Looking further ahead, Starship's potential is huge. With a massive payload capacity of 150 tonnes (330,000 lb) or the ability to carry up to 100 passengers, subsequent iterations could enable large-scale missions to the Moon, Mars, and even beyond. Starship may eventually transport heavy equipment for lunar bases, deliver entire habitats, and send supplies for extended stays on other planetary surfaces.

The combination of a reusable Super Heavy booster and upper stage could radically reduce the cost of space access. With the goal of flying Starship into orbit, recovering all components is a critical part of ensuring long-term viability, and today's achievement is a major step towards that goal.

 

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