Successful landing of the first stage of Super Heavy was a second away from disaster

The historic landing of SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster on the Mechzilla launch tower following the launch of the Starship 5 mission was on the brink of disaster. Just one second separated her from an emergency shutdown of the system, which could lead to the crash of the launch vehicle. This became known from an informal conversation between Elon Musk and an employee during a video game broadcast on platform X (formerly Twitter).

Image source: SpaceX/X

On October 13, the whole world watched as SpaceX made a new breakthrough in rocket science. The Super Heavy booster, larger than the first stage of the legendary Saturn V super-heavy booster, successfully returned to Earth after being caught mid-air by Mechzilla’s launch tower.

In a standard scenario, if a serious malfunction is detected, the system would direct the missile to a safe area over the sea or into a desert area. However, in this case, due to the nature of the error, the rocket could have crashed directly into SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, launch site, causing major damage and potentially delaying subsequent launches.

The employee also noted that in preparation for the Starship 5 mission, the team encountered “hundreds of not-so-trivial glitches,” each of which could have delayed the launch. He emphasized the need for a thorough review of all incidents before the upcoming launch of the Starship Flight 6 mission. Authorization from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already been received, freeing SpaceX from the need to coordinate its actions with the regulator and allowing it to focus on internal safety procedures and mission preparations.