Date: November 20, 2024

SpaceX calls off nail-biting catch attempt as booster splashes down to Earth

SpaceX Aborts Booster Catch Attempt but Achieves Milestones in Starship’s Sixth Test Flight

SpaceX conducted the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket system on Tuesday, achieving new milestones despite aborting a highly anticipated booster catch attempt. The nearly hour-long flight showcased Starship’s potential as the most powerful rocket ever built, pushing forward SpaceX’s vision for reusable spacecraft.

The 400-foot-tall (121-meter) Starship system—comprising the Starship spacecraft atop the Super Heavy booster—launched around 5 p.m. ET from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas. The event drew notable attendees, including President-elect Donald Trump, who joined SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, highlighting Musk’s growing prominence in Trump’s circle.

Booster Catch Aborted

After igniting its 33 Raptor engines and propelling Starship toward space, the Super Heavy booster separated and began its return to the launch site. SpaceX planned to land the booster using the “Mechazilla” launch and landing structure—equipped with giant robotic arms nicknamed “chopsticks.”

The company first succeeded with this maneuver during last month’s fifth Starship test, marking a major milestone in reusable rocket technology.

However, on Tuesday, automated health checks on the launch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt. Instead, the booster executed a pre-planned divert maneuver, performed a landing burn, and splashed down softly in the Gulf of Mexico, SpaceX confirmed in a statement.

Starship Achieves Space Milestones

Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft continued its journey, firing up its six Raptor engines and entering a coasting phase in space. For the first time, the spacecraft successfully reignited one of its engines in space—a critical milestone for future missions to the moon and Mars.

“They’re finicky little beasts,” said former NASA astronaut and SpaceX advisor Garret Reisman, referring to the rocket engines. “It’s not so easy to light them up, shut them down, and light them up again.”

Approximately half an hour after engine reignition, Starship prepared for reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft executed a daring reentry maneuver, showcasing its engineering resilience.

Testing Flight Limits

SpaceX also pushed Starship to its limits during the descent phase.

“We’re going to fly the ship at an aggressive angle of attack once it’s moving slower than the speed of sound,” SpaceX engineer Jessie Anderson explained during the livestream. “This means flying nose-down instead of the usual belly-flop orientation during the final descent. This will stress the flaps’ ability to maintain control, but it’s a chance to gather real flight data on our limits.”

Starship ultimately aimed for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean, concluding another step toward SpaceX’s vision of fully reusable spacecraft for human exploration of the moon, Mars, and beyond.