SpaceX successfully landed in Texas after its boldest test flight yet.
The 400-foot Starship rocket lifted off at dawn from near the Mexican border, before landing on metal “sticks,” a platform with mechanical arms.
It took the same path over the Gulf of Mexico as the four previous Starships that ended up being destroyed, either shortly after takeoff or while diving into the sea.
The last of June was the most successful yet and completed its flight without exploding.
Soaring nearly 400 feet (121 meters) high, the empty rocket lifted off at dawn from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border.
This time, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk upped the challenge and risk.
The company brought the first stage booster to land on the pad from which it had taken off seven minutes earlier.
The launch tower sported monstrous metal arms, called sticks, that caught the 232-foot (71-meter) descending thruster.
‘The tower has caught the rocket!!’ Musk said via X.
Company employees shouted with joy as the booster slowly descended toward the arms of the launch tower.
“Even today, what we just saw is magical,” SpaceX’s Dan Huot observed from near the launch site. “I’m shaking right now.”
“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” SpaceX’s Kate Tice added from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
It was up to the flight director to decide, in real time with a manual control, whether to attempt the landing.
This time, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk upped the challenge and risk.
SpaceX said both the booster and launch tower must be in good and stable condition. Otherwise, it was going to end up in the Gulf like the previous ones.
Everything was considered ready for capture.
The retro-looking stainless steel spacecraft on top continued around the world once free of the propellant, aiming for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean, where it would sink to the bottom.
The entire flight was expected to last just over an hour.
The June flight fell short at the end because pieces came off. SpaceX updated the software and modified the heat shield, improving the thermal plates.
This is breaking news with updates to follow.
