SpaceX launched its Starship Super Heavy rocket from Texas today in a flight that was seen as a complete success.
Following a successful Flight 4 in June, SpaceX had a new ambitious goal-to catch the Super Heavy Booster. In order for Starship to be fully reusable, both the Super Heavy and Starship must be recovered. A catch attempt was to be the main goal for IFT-5.
SpaceX met significant resistance from various organizations, including several lawsuits and fines for violating environmental regulations. The FAA initially stated that the next launch of Starship would be late-November due to additional input required from other organizations.
After months of disagreement, the FAA issued a launch license to SpaceX yesterday morning. SpaceX successfully launched the latest Starship test flight today from their private launch facility in Starbase, Texas. The mission had a 30 minute window, which began at 0700 CT this morning. The launch held while the range was cleared of stray boats, and liftoff occurred at 0725 CT.
After a successful hot staging and stage separation, SpaceX launch directors made the decision to make the catch attempt. The Super Heavy, which is as taller than a 20 story building, descended and landed in the “chopsticks” back at the pad. This was the list successful recovery of a Super Heavy booster and a true return to launch site performance.
Meanwhile, Starship itself performed a one-hour coast phase and successfully reentered Earth’a atmosphere. Starship had a soft touchdown in the Indian Ocean.
Overall, the mission was an astounding success. Because the launch achieved all aspects of the mission profile, no investigation will be required by the FAA, which has already licensed a sixth test flight. Flight 6 could happen sooner than we think. This is the first flight that a Super Heavy booster was successfully recovered, giving engineers something physically to review for the first time. SpaceX will spend the next several weeks learning about their flight and what improvements need to be made.
In future tests, SpaceX will develop the ability to transfer propellant between vehicles and launch Starling satellites for the company’s internet constellation.
One thing is certain, history was made today in Boca Chica, and SpaceX is one step closer to their goal of making humans multiplanetary.
