SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, on Monday, shared an interesting video showing the progress his company has made with Starship.
The video shared on X features an early version of Starship or Starhopper as it was called then from its test flights. Starhopper first took flight on July 25, 2019 and later evolved into the 400-feet-tall Starship that we know today.
Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/WyNRN1fLbd
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
pic.twitter.com/TRbXqFpGpr
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2024
Musk shared the video after the fifth test flight of the fully-integrated Starship. It was SpaceX’s most ambitious Starship mission as it involved catching the rocket’s 232-feet-tall Super Heavy Booster using a tower. The mission was immensely successful as the tower Mechazilla caught the booster in the first attempt ever.
The video shared by Musk features Starhopper from 2019 as it descended for a touchdown and the Super Heavy as it steered itself to the tower on Monday.
This progress, as many social media users, pointed out is a ‘great achievement’ considering how quickly SpaceX built and launched the world’s biggest rocket multiple times.
ALSO SEE: Watch SpaceX Catch First Starship Booster Using A Tower And Get Your Mind Blown!
The final phase of Super Heavy’s landing burn used the three center Raptor engines to precisely steer into catch position pic.twitter.com/BxQbOmT4yk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 14, 2024
Social media is flooded with videos of Starship’s catch by the tower as not many expected it to be a success in the first try.
Although Musk had said there’s a ‘decent chance’ the catch would be successful during Flight 5, he was a little skeptical.
Super Heavy landing burn and catch pic.twitter.com/wppBezuOet
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 14, 2024
Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met prior to catching the Super Heavy booster. Thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, we succeeded with catch on our first attempt. pic.twitter.com/6wa5v6xHI0
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
Replying to another video yesterday, Musk brought to light how people weren’t confident in his idea of catching the largest flying object using a tower.
“When I suggested that, people thought I lost my mind. Maybe I have. It might take a few kicks at the can, but we’ll get it right,” he told YouTuber Everyday Astronaut in a 2021 interview.
ALSO SEE: Five Starship Launches In Two Years! Elon Musk Shares Plan For Colonising Mars
3 years ago
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2024
Yesterday he also explained the idea behind using the tower which places Super Heavy back on to the launch mount for a second mission – reducing the turnaround time.
“Removing the mass of landing legs from the booster and ship by making the tower do the work of final velocity attenuation greatly improves payload margin,” Musk wrote on X.
“This architecture also simultaneously substantially increases launch cadence, because the same arms that lift the booster and ship onto the launch stand also catch them, allowing immediate placement of the booster back on the launch stand and the ship back on top of the booster,” he added.
Monday’s was the first Starship mission where SpaceX recovered the Super Heavy Booster. This marked the first step in the company’s quest to achieve full reusablity of Starship which SpaceX is building to take humans back to the Moon and eventually Mars.
ALSO SEE: SpaceX’s Starship Will Launch With Astronauts To Mars In Four Years: Elon Musk
(Image: X/@ElonMusk)
