Sundar Pichai Lauds Elon Musk After Insane Catch Of Starship Booster; ‘Rewatched Many Times Over…’
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is all praise for Elon Musk after his company SpaceX successfully caught Starship’s falling booster on the first try. The incredible moment came a few minutes after Starship’s fifth launch at 5:55 pm IST from Starbase, Texas on October 13.
Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/WyNRN1fLbd
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
The Super Heavy Booster, which measures 232 feet tall, fell from the sky in a controlled manner after separating from the first stage which measures 165 feet. Together, they make the rocket stand nearly 400 feet tall.
“Huge congrats, have to admit, rewatched the video many times over, incredible to see!” Pichai replied to Musk’s video of the tower catching the booster.
Huge congrats, have to admit, rewatched the video many times over, incredible to see!
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) October 14, 2024
ALSO SEE: Watch SpaceX Catch First Starship Booster Using A Tower And Get Your Mind Blown!
SpaceX has built a massive tower named ‘Mechazilla’ that holds the Booster as it steers itself to get wedged between the tower’s mechanical chopstick arms.
Three years ago, SpaceX CEO Musk had explained the idea about ‘Mechazilla’ in an interview with Everyday Astronaut’s YouTuber Tim Dodd.
3 years ago
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2024
“If you can move mass [from the rocket] to the ground site, it’s better to move mass to the ground site. That’s why we took legs off the booster and just have the tower catch it. It sounds mad,” Musk had said in 2021.
“I know it sounds insane. 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 said.
Earlier in July, Musk shared that there’s a ‘decent chance’ SpaceX will succeed in catching the booster, and he wasn’t wrong. Today he shared updates after the catch and said that the Super Heavy ‘looks great.’ While the heat from the fire warped Booster’s engine nozzles and caused a few other minor issues, Musk said all of it is fixable.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also acknowledged the historic success and congratulated Musk for progressing in his quest to take humans back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. NASA has paid SpaceX over $4 billion to build Starships that will help astronauts land on the Moon during the Artemis Program later this decade.
ALSO SEE: Anand Mahindra Mighty Impressed As SpaceX Catches Starship Booster, Asks Elon Musk For A Ticket
