Sunday morning, a scene that could easily have been mistaken for a science fiction movie set in Boca Chica, Texas. And it’s a scene that will be seen at Cape Canaveral for years to come.
The fully stacked SpaceX Starship Super Heavy rocket – towering 450 feet tall – fired its 33 first stage engines before appearing to slowly lift off its launch pad in Texas, as it has successfully done four times before. But something else came up.
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As the first and second stages separated, SpaceX engineers worked quickly to assess whether the first stage, the Super Heavy booster, had everything in order to return to the launch pad. Being able to recapture the booster is essential to make the rocket reusable.
The team decided to go for it.
Just over seven minutes into the flight, the first stage came into view again. It hovered above the launch pad at Boca Chica – as its controlled burns slowly brought it into the cradle of the launch tower’s Mechazilla arms (also called “chopsticks”).
Just over an hour later, the Starship spacecraft also returned and crashed into the Indian Ocean. While it came down apparently unscathed, it burst into flames upon landing.
SpaceX still considered this test a success, as the company did not attempt to recover the spacecraft on this flight; they just wanted to bring it back.
This is all part of SpaceX’s push for rapid reusability. Their plan is to eventually be able to refurbish and reuse the entire rocket ship, which will reduce the cost of spaceflight.
While SpaceX is already landing here in Cape Canaveral and reusing its Falcon 9 boosters, Starship is a much bigger rocket with bigger targets. These include: acting as a lunar lander for NASA astronauts, providing rapid transportation for the U.S. Department of Defense, and ultimately taking humans to Mars.
The company hopes to launch an unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2026, when the planet makes its next closest approach to Earth. According to SpaceX, once successful, crewed flights will follow.
These goals are absolutely ambitious. SpaceX has many more test flights of their spaceship before it is fully operational.
Full stack spaceship making progress
SpaceX has made progress in just over a year. The first fully stacked Starship flight test took place on April 20, 2023. Just under four minutes into the flight, the vehicle exploded. It was not until the third test flight on March 14 that the second stage completed a complete and successful burn that would be necessary to reach orbit. It took more than 40 minutes to disintegrate in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
On June 6, Starship flew a little longer and held steady during the return to make a splash in the Indian Ocean.
Future spaceship launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida?
With a launch tower already in place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A, SpaceX hopes to eventually launch and land 44 spacecraft per year here in Florida. The Federal Aviation Administration and Space Force are still assessing environmental issues surrounding SpaceX’s plans, such as the impact on infrastructure and the environment.
The space company is also eyeing another Starship launch pad. This would be built on vacant land north of Launch Complex-37, where the last United Launch Alliance Delta IV was launched earlier this year.
Although not quite ready for launch from Cape Canaveral, today’s flight was a milestone in this direction – and humanity’s return to the moon. Although SpaceX has stated that Starship will be part of the goal to reach Mars, NASA has contracted the company to use its Starship spacecraft as a human lander for its Artemis III mission to the moon.
Artemis III will be launched on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and will return humanity to the moon no earlier than the end of 2026. It will be via a planned Gateway outpost that astronauts will be transferred from the Orion spacecraft to the Starship to go to the moon.
There are currently no updates on Gateway or when Starship might be ready to take on this mission.
Brooke Edwards is a space reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or at @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX catches Starship booster in Texas: Future of SpaceX in Florida
