SpaceX Starship/Superheavy test flight achieves 100% of its goals
Superheavy after its flight, safely captured at Boca Chica
In SpaceX’s fifth orbital test flight of its Starship/Superheavy rocket, the company astonishingly achieved 100% of its goals, with Superheavy successfully returning to the launch tower and caught by the tower chopsticks on the very first attempt, and Starship successfully completing a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, hitting its target landing spot for the first time.
The full video of the live stream is embedded below.
The capture of Superheavy, as shown in the screen capture to the right, was especially incredible. The first attempts to vertically soft land the first stage of the Falcon 9 back in the mid-2010s were not unprecedented, the concept of which had previously been demonstrated by numerous tests on Earth as well as the Apollo landings. The tower chopstick capture of Superheavy was an entirely new concept and had never even been tested previously, anywhere, by anyone. To hit the mark and succeed on the first attempt is mind-boggling. The reaction of the SpaceX employees illustrated this, as they were overwhelmed by their own success.
As for Starship, like the fourth test flight there was some burn through damage seen on at least one of the control flaps, but much less this time. Moreover, the spacecraft was under full control during its entire flight, followed its planned flight plan, and landed on its target in the Indian Ocean.
With that success, I predict SpaceX will do a full orbit of Starship on the next test flight, #6, and attempt to land Starship vertically on land, possibly at Boca Chica or elsewhere. To do this will of course require government approvals, something that will likely slow things down again while accomplishing nothing, because in the end the bureaucrats will have to say yes anyway.
Watch Starship's Fifth flight test https://t.co/LVrCnTv797
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2024
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FAa will ground them for making FAA look bad. “I think you are doing that to yourself, bubbi…”
Seeing the tower catch SuperHeavy is the best space experience I’ve watched since I stayed up at night at the age of 13 to watch Neil Armstrong step out onto the surface of the moon.
Congrats to the team at SpaceX, outstanding effort!
Congrats to SpaceX! They did it!
Amazing to watch! What a show! They landed right on top of the buoy with the upper stage!
Still some minor issues (Burn through, fire on booster) but heck, this is better than everyone else in history. Woo Hoo!
“We have got to be with, we have to protect our brilliant people, because we don’t have too many of them.”
Donald Trump thanking Elon Musk for disaster relief assistance.
Juneau, Wisconsin, October 6, 2024
Steve White-
Great back-story tidbit!
Some things still work well in America.
That has to count as a three pointer, right?
I stand corrected, and I doff my Stetson to the estimable Mr. Musk and his gang of deranged engineers! Well done, sirs!
Godspeed, SpaceX!
The catch was amazing. I had my doubts. Hope they can keep that consistent.
Starship still had burn through at the flaps. That is an issue for re-usability.
Clearly going to require a lot more testing. I think calling it a tough nut to crack is an understatement.
Is it just me, or did the Starship submerge at the end?
I could not tell if that was underwater, and then bobbed back to the surface, or if it was just reflected light steam vapor that created that blue-green glow.
Nor could I tell if it broke apart and then exploded, or the other way around.
Tears of joy. Cheers –
This will make a bunch of people really HATE Elon Musk and al he stands for.
sippin_bourbon-
It looked to me, we did see a submerged camera view, briefly, but as you note, a lot going on.
Hard to tell, sorta a plunge & bob then they went to the buoy cam view. Hoping they have more than one camera angle.
Wow… Just WOW! …. That was amazing! I was skeptical of the whole “chopsticks” thing… But they nailed it, and I was wrong.
I have a few problems with Elon and his other projects, but today totally change everything in the space launch industry. SpaceX has just re-written the book. Well done SpaceX, America, and Elon!..
( I actually had tears in my eyes when the booster was safety caught… A truly historic moment… )
There is weeping and gnashing of teeth at the FAA.
But hope is not lost. They will find something to punish Musk for his political beliefs.
Regarding all this…. Does anyone know who actually came up with the “chopsticks” idea? It kinda reminds me of the “sky crane” idea for the last couple of Mars Rover’s … So outside the box it sounds madness… Then just works… Once again…. Brilliant work SpaceX… A testiment to the power of the free market ;-)
<I.Nor could I tell if it broke apart and then exploded, or the other way around.
It *looked* like what happened was that the engines cut out, it tipped over, and when it smacked the water, it exploded. No doubt because it was not designed to tip over and hit something without experiencing rapid unscheduled disassembly. Or (less likely) SpaceX deliberately had it programmed to blow up by detonating the FTS once it had finished the job, so as to prevent any recovery and inspection by naughty sorts of folks prowling the Indian Ocean.
We’ll no doubt see more info and splicing of the buoy videos, and different angles, to suss this out in the coming days.
As for Starship, consider the fact that at least one red hot working engine (and five very warm idle companions) was dipped into nice cool ocean water while still being fed huge amounts of propellent via powerful turbopumps. An explosion from that combination of factors should not surprise anyone. I’m surprised the one or more of the earlier events hadn’t resulted in an a similar on-camera RUD.
Lee
It was Nariyoshi Miyagi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMjGfn3iXhs
Seeing SH coming to the tower with the smoke and flames somehow seemed familiar to a corner of my mind.
A childhood memory triggered.
I wonder if Musk was a fan of The Thunderbirds?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNhk_-v0SMs&t=40s
Wow!
That has got to piss off the Chinese.
Musk to Bezos: Can you top this?
Way to go SpaceX! I expect the Chinese will soon break ground on their own megazilla and launch tower since they like to copy our successful tech.
I too am concerned about bad actors getting their hands on one of the Starships or Superheavy that soft landed on water.
I sure hope it damage the hearing of the local mouse or rodent population, or disturb the mudsuckers living in the nearby ponds.
My prediction: SpaceX will lose the 2024 Collier Trophy to Boeing. :)