Elon Musk’s spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX made engineering history on Sunday morning by successfully capturing the booster of a spacecraft returning to its launch site for the first time ever.
“Mechazilla captured a super heavy booster!” SpaceX posted on its X (formerly Twitter) account at 8:33 a.m. video There was a huge cheer as the fiery 20-storey-tall booster was shown making a controlled descent into a special tower’s robotic arm. The combination of spaceship and booster is launched 9:25 a.m. local time from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, near Brownsville.
Mechazilla Tower’s arm captured Super Heavy, SpaceX Starship’s reusable primary stage, on first attempt, SpaceX said. The culprit was SpaceX’s “most ambitious goal to date” and “the most novel operation in rocket history.” According to to the company.
Mechazilla caught Super Heavy Booster! pic.twitter.com/6R5YatSVJX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
Blue Origin, a SpaceX rival founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, posted one of many congratulatory messages sent to SpaceX following the feat. blue origin rubbed A new Shepard 27 rocket is scheduled to launch on the same day.
“Congratulations!” That read.
The spacecraft landed in the Indian Ocean just an hour after liftoff. As expectedencourage applause , video show.
“The entire SpaceX team should be proud of the engineering feat they accomplished. As Starship begins carrying crew and cargo to destinations on Earth, the Moon, Mars, and beyond, we can’t wait to see what the future holds. The world has seen what will happen,” SpaceX said. (Related: US achieves first moon landing in 50 years)
Watch Starship’s fifth flight test https://t.co/LVrCnTv797
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2024
At approximately 480 feet tall, the tower is the tallest rocket-launching tower in the world. According to To SpaceX. The tower features two giant robotic arms built to stack the spacecraft on top of the boosters and catch the boosters when they separate from the spacecraft, allowing the boosters to be reused.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk explained Tower’s Mechazilla arm “looks like giant chopsticks (like Karate Kid)!” refers to both the dinosaur-like monster Godzilla. record breaking 1954 movie of the same name and the 1984 anti-bullying film “karate kid”
starship, collective name Musk added that the spacecraft and booster combination is “the largest and most powerful flying object ever built, with more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V moon rocket.”
standing 397 feet tallstarship is 92 feet tall SpaceX says it’s larger than the Statue of Liberty and its pedestal combined. The spacecraft is 165 feet tall and the booster is 232 feet tall.
Starship “has been ready for launch since the first week of August,” but the license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been compromised by “malicious online detractors and special interest groups claiming Starship’s operation.” was hampered by “false and misleading reporting based on hysteria.” SpaceX said the water-cooled steel flame deflector could spray contaminants into the environment.
SpaceX chose: August 12th CNBC News report, End of report “There is a factual error,” he said, adding that he had obtained permission for the deflector.
SpaceX accused the FAA of delaying the launch to late November, citing “unnecessary environmental analysis.” As of Friday, SpaceX Still waiting for approval Release date is Sunday.
The FAA finally approved the launch on Saturday. According to to report.
of First of five Starship flight tests Occurred on April 30, 2023 at 9:33 a.m. Eastern Time.
