SpaceX ’s Super Heavy on the launchpad ahead of a test . SpaceX
SpaceX performed the fourth test flight of its monolithic Starship projectile on Thursday , with the first - stage Super Heavy booster power the upper - stage spaceship ballistic capsule to orb .
For the first time , both the booster and the spacecraft perform successful reentry maneuvers and landing place burn that see each incision achieve a soft landing in the ocean .
SpaceX’s Super Heavy on the launchpad ahead of a test.SpaceX
“ The quaternary flight of Starship made major strides to bring us closer to a rapidly recyclable future,”SpaceX saidin its psychoanalysis of the flight . “ Its attainment will provide data to drive melioration as we continue rapidly developing spaceship into a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and lading to Earth electron orbit , the moon , Mars , and beyond . ”
Reusability of both sections of the most powerful rocket engine ever to fly is one of the key goals of SpaceX ’s Starship broadcast as it will turn down the price of spacefaring for crew and cargo missions to the Sun Myung Moon and beyond , and earmark for an increase in the frequency of flight of stairs .
Landing the Super Heavy and spaceship section in water last week was for psychometric test aim only . While the Starship should one mean solar day solid ground on other heavenly bodies as well as Earth , SpaceX wants to bring home the Super Heavy booster in a similar way to how it set down the first stage of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket .
Notably , SpaceX boss Elon Musk discover on Sunday that the next Starship trial will use the arms on the launch tower at SpaceX ’s site in Boca Chica , Texas , to strain to “ catch ” the first - stage booster as it come up in to land . His update accompanied a striking video recording show the Super Heavy booster amount down in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of last hebdomad ’s test .
Starship champion makes soft landing in piss , next landing will be capture by the tower armshttps://t.co/soB7l1Gdsi
& mdash ; Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)June 8 , 2024
An animation ( below ) created by C - bass part Production a couple of twelvemonth ago depicts how the catching arrangement could work .
Musk revealed his desire to catch the Super Heavy in 2020 , sound out it would save SpaceX the cost of work up landing legs for the rocket . take this part of the structure would also reduce the booster ’s weight , allowing it to contain less fuel and/or big payloads .
No engagement has yet been localize for the 5th Starship tryout , but SpaceX ’s desire to increase the absolute frequency of spaceship flight suggests it could take place in the next couple of months .
