“Today is a giant step forward toward multiplanetary life,” the Chancellor says, quoting Neil Armstrong.
A double win for the fifth launch of Starship, a spacecraft designed by SpaceX, a private company founded by Elon Musk. Today, October 12, two tests were carried out in Boca Chica (Texas) on the largest and most powerful spacecraft intended for use in future missions to the Moon and Mars. A first that never happened to a starship, the rocket booster returned to the launch pad of Super Heavy. The second objective achieved was the excavation of the spacecraft. Both were successful. Musk gloats, quoting astronaut Neil Armstrong who landed on the moon: “Today is a big step forward toward multiplanetary life.”
Booster landing
The Super Heavy generates a thrust of about 74 meganewtons. Reported by CourierApproximately 700 times more powerful than a typical aircraft. The Starship took off for an unpowered test, then separated from the booster spacecraft and returned to the launch pad about 7 minutes after liftoff. The system, which Musk nicknamed “Mechazilla,” caught him on the plane. “The tower captured the rocket,” the entrepreneur wrote happily on social media. In fact, the 150-meter-tall system was able to “catch” the super-heavy with mechanical arms that were positioned above and slowly slowed its descent.
ditch
Shortly after, the second phase of the launch was completed, in which the actual spacecraft, the Starship, landed. The vehicle reached its destination on schedule in the Indian Ocean an hour after launch. So a total win for Musk's aerospace company.
On cover: EPA/SPACE The moment the booster arrives at the launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, on October 13, 2024.
