Steph Deschamps / June 7, 2024
The Starship spacecraft, designed for voyages to the Moon and Mars, successfully ditched for the first time on Thursday after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, around an hour after the mega rocket's fourth liftoff, according to SpaceX.
"Landing confirmed!" wrote billionaire Elon Musk's company on social network X. During the live broadcast of the flight, however, the craft could be seen shedding parts shortly before it finished its run. Liftoff of Starship's fourth test flight took place at 07:50from SpaceX's Starbase spaceport in Boca Chica, in the far south of Texas.
One of the main objectives of the flight was to achieve a more controlled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere than in the three previous tests, which ended in explosions. Development of Starship is proceeding apace, with billionaire Elon Musk's company rapidly launching prototypes without cargo, in order to correct any problems encountered in flight as soon as possible. The Starship will eventually be used to transport Nasa astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
The US space agency is closely monitoring its development. The rocket has two stages: the Super Heavy propulsion stage and, above it, the Starship, which by extension gives its name to the entire rocket. The Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket, with a total height of 120 meters. A few minutes after lift-off, Super Heavy detached from the ship and began its return to Earth. For the first time, it then successfully landed in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX announced. The spacecraft continued on its way until it reached space. After around an hour, it in turn re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at around 25,000 km/h.