SpaceX Targets First Booster Catch on Fifth Starship Flight Today— All You Need To Know

SpaceX on Sunday (13 October) plans a major test flight of its Starship megarocket, aiming for a groundbreaking achievement: catching the first-stage booster with the "chopstick" arms of the launch tower.

This step is pivotal in the company's push for swift reusability.

The launch is set to take place from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, with a window starting at 7.00 am local time (1200 GMT).

The event will be streamed live on SpaceX’s website and its X platform account.

In June, SpaceX successfully managed a splashdown in the Indian Ocean with Starship's upper stage, a spacecraft prototype that Elon Musk envisions as the vessel that will eventually transport humans to Mars.

NASA is also awaiting a modified version of Starship, which is planned to serve as a lander vehicle for manned missions to the Moon as part of the Artemis program, set for later this decade.

SpaceX stated that the main goals for Sunday’s fifth Starship test include "the first ever return to launch site and catch of the Super Heavy booster, and another Starship reentry and landing burn, aiming for an on-target splashdown of Starship in the Indian Ocean".

The company added that its engineers have "spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success."

Teams will be monitoring to ensure "thousands" of criteria are met both on the vehicle and at the tower before any attempt to return the Super Heavy booster to the tower and "catch" it.

Should the criteria not be fulfilled, the booster will be diverted to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, similar to past tests.

If everything proceeds as expected, the booster will slow down from supersonic speeds, producing sonic booms near the landing zone, before being caught by the launch tower’s "chopstick arms" roughly seven minutes after liftoff.

The large mechanical arms, called "chopsticks" and even "Mechazilla" by Musk, have generated considerable excitement among space enthusiasts.

Starship, standing 397 feet tall (121 meters) including both stages, is about 90 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty.

The spacecraft's Super Heavy booster, measuring 233 feet in height, generates 16.7 million pounds (74.3 Meganewtons) of thrust, nearly double the power of the Saturn V rockets from the Apollo missions.

SpaceX's strategy of "fail fast, learn fast" through rapid iterative testing, even in the face of dramatic rocket failures, has hastened its progress and driven the company’s success.

Founded in 2002, SpaceX quickly surpassed established aerospace companies and is now the global leader in orbital launches. It also operates the only US spaceship certified to transport astronauts.

The company has also built the world’s largest internet satellite network, 'Starlink', proving invaluable in disaster and conflict zones.

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