SpaceX Confirms Next Starship Test Will Try to Catch the Booster

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2024-10-08 06:30:03

SpaceX confirmed today that the next test flight of its giant Starship booster will include the first attempt to catch the booster as it returns to Earth if all conditions are right. Reusability is the company’s watchword and it plans to recover Starship’s first stage just as it does with the much smaller Falcon 9. SpaceX is waiting for regulatory approval from the FAA and posted a statement today that they could launch as early as this coming Sunday. The FAA said last month it likely would take until the end of November to complete its review, however.

Starship is the largest rocket ever built. The first stage, Super Heavy, is powered by 33 methane-liquid oxygen Raptor engines. The second stage, Starship, has six and is the section that would deliver payloads — satellites, cargo, people — to Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars. Nine meters (29.5 feet) in diameter, together they stand 121 meters (397 feet) tall. Both are designed to be recovered and reused.

On the last test flight, IFT-4, Super Heavy made a controlled water landing in the Gulf of Mexico as a precursor to this attempt to land back at the launch site. The booster will be caught in mid-air by “chopsticks” attached to the launch tower.