SpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad.
Sunday, October 13, 2024 1:50PMSpaceX launched its enormous Starship rocket on Sunday on its boldest test flight yet, catching the returning booster back at the pad with mechanical arms.
This time, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk upped the challenge and risk. The company brought the first-stage booster back to land at the pad from which it had soared seven minutes earlier. The launch tower sported monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, that caught the descending 232-foot booster.Company employees screamed in joy as the booster slowly lowered itself into the launch tower's arms.
"Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books," added SpaceX's Kate Tice from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.It was up to the flight director to decide, in real time with a manual control, whether to attempt the landing. SpaceX said both the booster and launch tower had to be in good, stable condition. Otherwise, it was going to end up in the gulf like the previous ones. Everything was judged to be ready for the catch.
The June flight came up short at the end after pieces came off. SpaceX upgraded the software and reworked the heat shield, improving the thermal tiles.
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SpaceX practices for epic Starship booster catch attempt (photos)Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, 'Out There,' was published on Nov. 13, 2018.
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In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster at landing padSpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad.
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In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster at landing padSpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad
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In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster at landing padSpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad.
Read more »