Home industry space SpaceX Defies Gravity, Starship Booster Caught Mid-Air by ‘Chopsticks’ on Groundbreaking Flight 5
Space
CIO Bulletin
2024-10-15
SpaceX proves that even rockets can have a second chance—caught with chopsticks, no takeout required!
In a groundbreaking moment for space exploration, SpaceX launched its towering 400-foot Starship vehicle for the fifth time on October 13th from the Starbase facility in South Texas. This mission wasn’t just about sending a rocket into space—it set the stage for an audacious maneuver never before attempted.
At 8:25 a.m. EDT, the Super Heavy booster, Starship’s colossal first stage, roared into the sky. About seven minutes after liftoff, the booster descended back towards the launch mount. But this time, instead of crashing down or landing on a pad, SpaceX caught the booster mid-air using the enormous "chopstick" arms of the launch tower. In an unprecedented feat of precision engineering, the booster hovered near the Mechazilla tower, and its massive arms captured it, marking a historic moment in spaceflight.
“This is a day for the engineering history books!” exclaimed Kate Tice, SpaceX’s Quality Systems Engineering manager, as cheers erupted at SpaceX’s Hawthorne headquarters. “On the first-ever attempt, we’ve successfully caught the Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower.”
The excitement didn’t stop there. The upper stage, a 165-foot spacecraft known as Starship, soared into space and completed its mission with a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean after 65 minutes. With this stunning achievement, SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in space exploration and other scientific discoveries.
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