SpaceX efficiently launched its sixth check flight of Starship on Tuesday from Starbase, Texas. There was no catch immediately, as SpaceX didn’t see favorable situations for the try.
Starship took off on time proper at 4:00 p.m. CT, and the Tremendous Heavy booster landed with a splashdown within the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff.
Tremendous Heavy initiates its touchdown burn and softly splashes down within the Gulf of Mexico pic.twitter.com/BZ3Az4GssC
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024
About two minutes earlier than the profitable splashdown, SpaceX determined to abort an try at catching Tremendous Heavy as soon as once more. SpaceX saved security as a precedence as all the time and determined that situations for a catch try weren’t met. It known as for a booster offshore divert and accomplished it with no points.
CEO Elon Musk mentioned in a submit on X that he hoped to catch Tremendous Heavy sooner and more durable with this launch, together with three different aims:
The aims for Starship Flight 6 are:
1. Restart of Raptor engines in vacuum.
2. Daylight touchdown of the ship.
3. Larger peak heating (steeper) reentry.
4. Quicker/more durable booster catch.There are literally thousands of small design modifications additionally being examined.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2024
The Banana Payload
SpaceX teased the involvement of a banana for IFT-6 with photos of the rocket transferring to the launch pad a number of days in the past:
Through the broadcast on X of the Starship check flight, it was defined that the banana was symbolic for the first-ever payload carried onboard. A banana was positioned on board for a zero gravity indicator, but it surely was additionally so SpaceX might undergo the approval course of for payloads with the FAA.
SpaceX broadcast hosts mentioned it will familiarize SpaceX with the regulatory course of with the FAA, seemingly hoping to keep away from the problems the corporate has had with the company up to now. Additionally, it appears to be an indication that SpaceX is able to begin testing payloads, with launches going down in 2025.
You’ll be able to choose up a few of the Banana (For Scale) merch on SpaceX’s web site. I’ve already picked what I’m going to seize from this launch:
I might need to get this for my workplace pic.twitter.com/D7GTJ00CpH
— Joey Klender (@KlenderJoey) November 19, 2024
SpaceX might launch the seventh check flight earlier than the top of the yr. The fifth Starship launch happened in October, simply over a month in the past. There’s a chance SpaceX will push the envelope and take a look at yet one more time earlier than Christmas, but it surely stays to be seen if the corporate will as a substitute wait till early 2025.
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