SpaceX’s next Starship test flight could include another milestone, according to a teaser video accompanying the rocket’s fourth test flight.
SpaceX posted a video to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday (July 4) that features a montage of milestones from Starship’s fourth flight test on June 6. The video shows clips of the ignition, liftoff, booster separation, and reentry of both Starship’s upper stage and its super-heavy booster.
At the end of the video, an animation shows a giant, 400-foot-tall (122-meter-tall) rocket landing back at Starship’s launch tower, known as “Mechazilla,” next to the words “Next” and “Flight 5,” suggesting that the company plans to try to catch the rocket in its upcoming flight test. SpaceX plans to catch the Super Heavy on its launch tower so that the rocket can be refurbished and relaunched more efficiently and in shorter timeframes, the company said.
SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has suggested the same on social media. “I’m aiming to test this in late July,” Musk said. Written on X Last month, after the spacecraft’s fourth atmospheric test.
The company earlier posted a 60-second animation of the chopstick arms on the massive Mechazilla launch tower grabbing a Super Heavy booster rocket as it approaches for landing at Starbase, SpaceX’s site in South Texas.
Prior to that, on June 27, the company announced It was published. A short video on the X site shows Mechella holding chopsticks in his arms as he holds a Super Heavy rocket steady while the rocket is upright on its launch mount. “Starbase team tests chopsticks in tower in preparation for catching the next Super Heavy booster,” SpaceX wrote in the video’s description.
Starship has been launched four times so far: in April and November 2023, and on March 18 and June 6, 2024. Each test has been more successful than the last, achieving additional milestones each time.
On its first flight, the spacecraft’s two stages failed to separate and the craft exploded in less than five minutes. On its final mission, the spacecraft and Super Heavy re-entered Earth’s atmosphere intact, splashing down in the ocean.
The massive vehicle is designed with off-world destinations in mind. SpaceX wants Starship to reach Mars and possibly help settle humans there, while NASA plans to use the rocket to land crews on the moon during the Artemis program.
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