What To Know
- SpaceX recently completed the fourth test flight of its Starship megarocket, marking a significant milestone in the company’s efforts to develop a fully reusable space vehicle.
- to successfully splash down gently the first stage booster, known as Super Heavy, in the Gulf of Mexico, and to achieve a controlled re-entry of the second stage, called Starship, in the Indian Ocean.
- As a reminder, NASA has already selected the ship as the first crewed lander for the Artemis program, which aims to establish a research base in the Moon’s south polar region by the end of the 2020s.
SpaceX recently completed the fourth test flight of its Starship megarocket, marking a significant milestone in the company’s efforts to develop a fully reusable space vehicle.
Goals achieved
The launch took place this Thursday, June 6 from the Starbase site, near the beach of Boca Chica, in southern Texas. The mission of this flight was twofold: to successfully splash down gently the first stage booster, known as Super Heavy, in the Gulf of Mexico, and to achieve a controlled re-entry of the second stage, called Starship, in the Indian Ocean. However, both objectives were achieved. The Super Heavy, powered by 33 Raptor enginesin fact executed a spectacular takeoff despite the failure of one of them. He then managed to land smoothly to the cheers of the mission controllers, accompanied byElon Musk. The second stage also appeared to achieve its goal despite one of its flaps clearly suffering burn damage during descent. Live feeds from the camera showed the structure’s heat shield melting from the heat, covering the camera in debris in the process. After losing signal, the camera eventually returned, proving that the Starship was still in one piece. As it descended, the ship appeared to flip over. as expected to execute its landing.
Credits: SpaceX
On the right track
This achievement marks a significant step forward for SpaceX, which envisions Starship as a revolutionary breakthrough in reusable spaceflight. As a reminder, NASA has already selected the ship as the first crewed lander for the Artemis program, which aims to establish a research base in the Moon’s south polar region by the end of the 2020s. Before this historic mission, Starship will naturally have to complete many more test flights. Nevertheless, this new clearly successful test, which is a real departure from the first three, puts the company on the right track. The data collected during this mission will also be vital to improving the performance of the next flight that could take place in just a few weeks. There is no question of the FAA conducting a thorough investigation of this test, which ticked all the boxes. SpaceX plans to launch four more Starship test flights in 2024, aiming for a total of six flights for this year. By then, the company would like to be able to recover and reuse its two ships.
