SpaceX’s third Starship test flight last Thursday was its best yet, far surpassing the first two missions last year that ended in a giant fireball in just a few minutes. .
This time, the Starship (consisting of the first stage Super Heavy booster and the upper stage Starship spacecraft) continued its flight, with both parts reaching their destination before disbanding during descent.
The huge success of the mission using the world’s most powerful rocket is a major boost for the Starship project, which SpaceX aims to use to fly crew and cargo to the moon in the coming years. It could even be used for the first human flight to Mars, perhaps in the 2030s, but much preparatory work still needs to be done before such an ambitious endeavor is attempted.
SpaceX then shared breathtaking images from its recent Starship mission. It includes close-up footage of the 120-meter-tall rocket taking off from the launch pad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
Takeoff of three flights seen from the top of the tower pic.twitter.com/JPlXDBONAb
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 15, 2024
It also shared a wider, slow-motion video showing the mega-rocket departing from the launch pad, delivering almost 17 million pounds of thrust, the most in rocket history.
Slow motion view of a starship rising through the clouds above Starbase pic.twitter.com/QEvcMmsLtO
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 15, 2024
Later in the mission, a camera mounted on the Starship spacecraft beamed these dramatic images about 145 miles above Earth. His final two images show the vehicle heating up, glowing red, and eventually disintegrating as it descends at high speed.
space ship pic.twitter.com/ge5vJ0q9jW
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 16, 2024
SpaceX cited a number of firsts achieved during Starship’s latest test flight. Among them was a super heavy booster that completed a complete boostback burn to perform a successful flip maneuver and send it toward its splashdown point in the Gulf of Mexico.
Super Heavy also successfully ignited multiple engines for the first-ever landing burn, but shortly afterward the rocket exploded approximately 460 meters above the Gulf of Mexico.
After stage separation, all six of the Starship’s Raptor engines successfully started, providing power to the target orbit and becoming the first Starship to complete a full duration ascent burn.
SpaceX said it is currently reviewing data collected from the latest test flights and aims to increase the frequency of launches toward 2024. In other words, it might not be long before we see another spacecraft roaring into the sky.
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