SpaceX completed its most successful Starship flight to date on Thursday in a test launch from its main base in Boca Chica, Texas.
The most powerful rocket in the world generated a whopping 15.4 million pounds of thrust as it roared off the launch pad. Later, SpaceX shared some incredible slow-motion imagery showing the vehicle, composed of the Super Heavy booster for the first stage and the Starship spacecraft for the upper stage, ascending into orbit.
A key mission for SpaceX and the conquest of space
Thursday’s mission saw a far better outcome than the first two test flights of the 120-meter (393-foot) rocket, which both ended in explosions minutes after leaving the launch pad.
The third test flight, in March, made significant progress, but this latest mission surpassed even that launch, achieving most of the objectives set by the SpaceX team.
“The Super Heavy rocket successfully launched and completed a full-duration ascent burn,” SpaceX said in a post-mission report. “Starship has executed another successful hot-stage separation, shutting down all but three of the Super Heavy’s Raptor engines and successfully igniting the six Raptor engines of the second stage before separating the vehicles.”
After separation, the Super Heavy rocket “successfully completed the flip maneuver and the retro-thrust ignition to head towards the landing zone, as well as the release of the hot-stage adapter”. The flight of the Super Heavy rocket ended with its first landing burn and smooth splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico 7 minutes and 24 seconds after leaving the launch pad.
Meanwhile, the six Raptor engines of the Starship’s second-stage flight propelled the spacecraft into orbit, where it stopped for a while before performing a controlled reentry for the first time.
The Starship successfully passed the various phases of maximum heating and maximum aerodynamic pressure as it descended through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, while the vehicle’s flaps controlled its trajectory towards open sea.
Next, the Starship ignited its three central Raptor engines to perform its first flip maneuver and landing burn since the start of the rocket’s suborbital campaign, followed by a smooth splashdown in the Indian Ocean 1 hour and 6 minutes after departing from the Star Base.
The successful reentry of both vehicles is a major step forward for SpaceX in its attempt to make the Starship fully reusable by landing both parts vertically – instead of in the ocean – so that they can be used for multiple flights.
The ultimate goal is to use the Starship for crewed and cargo missions to the Moon, and possibly even to Mars.
