SpaceX: Sixth test flight for giant Starship rocket on Tuesday evening
In a spectacular operation, the first rocket stage of the Starship was recaptured a month ago after launch. This should work again on Tuesday.
The giant rocket is ready
(Image: SpaceX)
Just over a month after the spectacular fifth test flight of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, the next attempt is imminent. Tomorrow, Tuesday at 11 pm CET (4 pm local time), a 30-minute window will open for the rocket to take off again. As with the previous launch, the booster is to be recaptured after a successful launch. Meanwhile, the spaceship itself is supposed to reach space and reactivate one of the engines, among other things. If everything goes well, the final stage will be a controlled fall back to Earth with a high-precision crash in the Indian Ocean, according to SpaceX. However, as this is another test, everything could turn out very differently. The launch will be broadcast exclusively on the short message service X.
Enthusiasm at SpaceX
During the fifth test flight of the Starship on October 13, SpaceX succeeded in catching the lower rocket stage again directly on the launch tower. Two catching arms acted like chopsticks, which is why billionaire Elon Musk's space company refers to this asthe "chopstick method". After it worked, the SpaceX control center erupted in jubilation. SpaceX has thus proven that the ambitious plan to reuse the giant rocket can work in principle and can probably be realized with the current means of technology. Now it remains to be seen whether the project can be repeated.
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The Starship consists of the approximately 70 m long Super Heavy booster and the approximately 50 m long upper stage. The largest rocket in the world is designed in such a way that the spaceship and rocket can be reused after returning to Earth. The rocket is intended to take astronauts to the moon for NASA. However, SpaceX hopes to reach Mars one day. In April 2023, a complete Starship took off for the first time, but only remained intact for a few minutes. On November 18, 2023, the second launch attempt was successful before the rocket exploded. The third test flight succeeded in mid-March 2024 and lasted significantly longer, with the next one following in June. SpaceX has announced nine launch attempts for this year. But even if nothing comes of it, the speed at which the rocket is being improved and tested remains impressive.
(mho)
