Elon Musk’s Starship soars in successful test flight, but ‘Mechazilla’ escapes hold

Elon Musk’s spacex starship successfully conducted another spectacular launch Tuesday – But an attempt to capture a Super Heavy booster rocket with “Mechazilla” weapons failed.

Hundreds of people gathered at SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas to watch it Starship’s sixth test flight, That includes President-elect Donald Trump, who flew to Mar-a-Lago to join SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

SpaceX hoped to catch lightning in a bottle for the second time after last month’s successful capture — a spectacular maneuver in which the reusable booster separates from the Starship spacecraft and then uses its thrusters to land back down safely. . “Mechazilla” mechanical claw At the launch tower.

However, engineers shocked the audience when they called shortly after liftoff because the boosters had separated from the main starship body.

Instead, the booster made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX did not say Tuesday night what problem caused the engineers to abort the capture attempt, but the company has previously said there would be no risk of capture if proper criteria were not met at the time of separation. .

Meanwhile, the Starship section of the rocket made a daytime landing in the Indian Ocean — the company aimed for a more controlled vertical landing as opposed to a traditional belly flop to fully test the spacecraft’s systems.

Despite failing to attempt another catch, the company accomplished one of Musk’s main goals for the mission, restarting its Raptor engines while in space – a first for SpaceX.

Starship is designed to be completely and rapidly reusable, providing SpaceX with significant savings on costs and resources, which will help the company reach its ultimate goal of pioneering travel to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX has conducted five previous Starship test flights, starting in April 2023, with each test making steady progress.

During the first two attempts, in April and November last year, engine failure derailed the mission before the craft took off from the launchpad.

This March, Starship was successfully launched, but the Falcon Super Heavy booster was destroyed about 1,500 feet above the ocean and did not return to Earth as planned.

The starship is believed to have disintegrated before its planned explosion.

The fourth test launch in June saw a successful launch and controlled launch of its booster into the Gulf of Mexico and the spacecraft into the Indian Ocean.

During the fifth launch in October, the company celebrated a major milestone when the Super Heavy booster rocket flew back to the launchpad seven minutes after liftoff, where it was caught by mechanical weapons On the launch tower so that it can be reused.

NASA is pinning its hopes on the success of Starship to use the spacecraft for a return to the Moon, which is being planned for 2027–2028.