The Starship booster rocket, Super Heavy, returns to the ground via two robotic “chopstick” arms on the launch tower. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX has succeeded in its most ambitious test flight of Starship yet, sticking the launch and landing of the world’s largest and most powerful rocket. The nearly 400-foot-tall vehicle took flight from SpaceX’s launch site near Brownsville, Texas on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, catapulting into clear skies after months of delay awaiting FAA approval.
Starship continued into space after penetrating the densest part of the atmosphere, while the booster rocket returned to Earth in a free fall that walloped the surrounding atmosphere with several sonic booms. The Super Heavy rocket fired its engines as it approached the ground, slowing its decent to a gentle free-fall and ultimately settling into the grasp of a pair of robotic chopstick arms on the launch pad. SpaceX engineers dubbed the contraption “Mechazilla.”
“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,” SpaceX posted on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft successfully ended its mission objectives with a soft-landing in the Indian Ocean that was reportedly right on target.
The test was the company’s most ambitious flight yet—the culmination of years of preparation and months of testing, with technicians spending “tens of thousands of hours” on building the infrastructure, according to SpaceX.
Elon Musk says he wants the spacecraft to ferry humans to Mars by 2026, though his audacious timelines often see delays.
NASA has chosen Starship to fly and land astronauts on the Moon as part of the Artemis missions in the coming years. If SpaceX continues nailing its test flights, U.S. astronauts could put their boots on the ground at the lunar south pole as early as 2026.