Today, the aerospace company SpaceX sent its Starship spacecraft on its fifth test flight. The mission will likely be considered a success, since the objectives were achieved and the ship successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Today’s launch is also noteworthy because SpaceX managed to catch the first stage of the Starship system.
Image source: Spacex
The Super Heavy launch vehicle together with the Starship spacecraft took off from the Starbase site in Texas at 08:25 local time (15:25 Moscow time). Approximately 7 minutes after launch, the first stage was captured at the surface of the Earth using the Mechazilla installation.
At the same time, the Starship continued to move in the given direction and approximately 45 minutes after launch, it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, where it went through a peak heating phase. In the published photographs you can even see the fire of one of the ship’s four flaps. However, this did not prevent Starship from reaching the specified square. The splashdown took place at 16:30 Moscow time and almost immediately after this the ship was rocked by an explosion accompanied by a bright flash. The broadcast hosts did not comment on what happened, and there were no official statements from SpaceX on this issue.
Previously, SpaceX conducted four test launches of Starship – two each last year and this year. As for the purpose of Starship, the system is planned to be used for flights to the Moon, Mars and more distant space objects. SpaceX also has a NASA contract to transport the first two crews of the Artemis program using Starship between lunar orbit and the lunar south pole.