SpaceX‘s prototype spacecraft, which it hopes to send to the moon one day, landed in one piece on a landing pad on Wednesday. It was the fifth high-altitude flight test for SpaceX Starship, a vehicle that had exploded on several previous test flights during or after landing.
During the SN15 live stream launch, SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said, “We’re down, Starship landed.”
As a result of the rocket fuel used, flames continued to emerge after it landed, according to Insprucker. Shortly after SpaceX’s official video feed ended, ELON Musk, the company’s founder, tweeted that the landing was a successful rocket engineering jargon: “Starship nominal landing!”
Musk’s goal of one day transporting people far beyond Earth’s orbit is centred on a future model. NASA has also recently awarded SpaceX a contract to build a Starship version that will transport astronauts to the Moon’s surface later this decade.
The rockets started successfully in four previous tests since December and demonstrated controlled belly flops back to the ground after several miles of altitude. Nonetheless, issues arose during landing and after the rocket collided with spectacular explosions.
Wednesday’s flight was a lot of fun. The three-engine aircraft crashed into cloudy air over Boca Chica, near Mexico’s Gulf. It flew about 6 miles above sea level for four minutes before shutting down its engines and hovering for a while before returning to the earth’s surface.
When it returned to the pad, it began its descent horizontally. He reactivated his engines and returned to a vertical orientation as he approached the surface, slowing his approach to the ground in a cloud of smoke. As the vapour cleared, the spacecraft stood upright, feathers blowing from its sides.
SpaceX uses tests to identify design flaws and adapt to a quick, retrofit approach for future flights. The announcement made by NASA last month will almost certainly centre on the Starship’s progress and setbacks.
SpaceX Cruises to the launch
Many, however, are sceptical of Musk’s claim that the company is only a few years away from sending Starship to Mars, and note that SpaceX has frequently set overly optimistic time frames.
When he updated the development of SpaceX Starship in 2019, he stated that a high-altitude test would take place within months and orbital flights could take place early in 2020.
Instead, the faulty welding resulted in a series of catastrophic failures. Last year, two prototypes took short, successful flights after the propellant tanks stopped broking. Those former Starship prototypes resembled spray paint cans with labels removed, rising nearly 500 feet with a single rocket engine before returning to the Texas test site.
The starship has been lifted from the ground numerous times, but it is not yet ready for a journey into orbit. SpaceX, on the other hand, is already planning future tests that will send prototypes from the Starship to much higher altitudes. Musk revealed a SpaceX prototype of a large booster stage for a space trip in March. It stands more than 200 feet tall.
Although this prototype will not fly, Musk stated that the SpaceX company’s goal is to launch a second model by July.
