SpaceX successfully completed its fifth test flight of the Starship on Sunday, marking a significant milestone by returning the rocket’s first stage booster to its launch pad in Texas for the first time, utilizing large mechanical arms. This achievement represents another innovative engineering accomplishment in the company’s ongoing efforts to develop a reusable vehicle for lunar and Martian exploration. The “Super Heavy” booster ascended at 7:25 a.m. CT (1225 GMT) from SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch site, propelling the Starship’s second stage into space before detaching at an altitude of approximately 70 kilometers (40 miles) to initiate its descent—a particularly challenging aspect of the test. To facilitate a controlled landing, the Super Heavy booster reignited three of its 33 Raptor engines, guiding its rapid descent back to the launch site, where it aimed for the towering structure from which it had originally launched. Standing over 400 feet tall, the launch tower, which exceeds the height of the Statue of Liberty, is equipped with two large mechanical arms at its apex. As the engines roared, the 233-foot (71 meters) Super Heavy booster descended into the embrace of the launch tower’s arms, securing itself through small protruding bars located beneath its four forward grid fins, which had been instrumental in maneuvering during its flight.
The tower successfully captured the rocket, as noted by CEO Elon Musk on X following the catch attempt, which elicited a wave of applause from SpaceX engineers monitoring the live stream. This innovative catch-landing technique represents a significant milestone in SpaceX’s ongoing test-to-failure development strategy aimed at creating a fully reusable rocket capable of transporting larger payloads into orbit, facilitating human missions to the Moon for NASA, and ultimately reaching Mars, which remains Musk’s visionary goal. Concurrently, the Starship, which constitutes the upper stage of the rocket system, was traveling at approximately 17,000 miles per hour at an altitude of 89 miles, on a trajectory toward the Indian Ocean near western Australia, where it was set to execute a controlled splashdown about 90 minutes into its flight. As Starship reentered the Earth’s atmosphere in a horizontal position, onboard cameras captured the striking pinkish-purple glow of superheated plasma enveloping the spacecraft’s Earth-facing side and its two steering flaps, a vivid display of the intense hypersonic friction it experienced. The spacecraft’s heat-resistant side is equipped with 18,000 upgraded heat-shielding tiles, enhancements made since its previous test in June, during which Starship completed its inaugural full test flight to the Indian Ocean but encountered tile damage that complicated its reentry. This time, Starship appeared to maintain its structural integrity as it reignited one of its six Raptor engines to orient itself upright for the simulated ocean landing. The SpaceX live stream captured the moment the rocket made contact with the dark waters off the coast of Australia before tipping onto its side, thereby concluding its test mission.
