SpaceX’s giant rocket Starship launched into space on Thursday, June 6, 2024, from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
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On Thursday morning, commercial company SpaceX successfully conducted the fourth launch of its largest rocket ever.
The giant “starship” took off from Boca Chica, Texas, around 8 a.m. Central Time. One of the 33 engines on its Super Heavy booster failed just seconds after liftoff, but the rocket still rumbled off the launch pad and rose smoothly into space.
After the booster separated from the starship, it turned around and used its engines to land gently in the Gulf of Mexico. The soft landing marks an important milestone for SpaceX, which hopes to quickly reuse Starship and its boosters on future missions.
The starship cruised the edge of space for about an hour while broadcasting the view via SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. As it began to reenter the atmosphere, cameras showed bright purple plasma forming around a flap used to control the starship’s direction.
The flaps appeared to partially melt in the heat of the upper atmosphere. Debris obscured a camera monitoring the spacecraft, and the lens eventually appeared to break.
Still, the massive craft appeared to be in control as it descended through the atmosphere. Its worn flaps moved and brought it into a vertical position. When the spacecraft appeared to land in the ocean as planned, cheers erupted at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
“From South Texas to the other side of the world: Starship is in the water,” said Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager.
Here’s what else you need to know about this latest test flight.
Starship is the largest rocket ever built
When stacked on top of the Super Heavy booster, Starship stands nearly 400 feet tall, even larger than the Saturn V rocket that carried the Apollo astronauts to the moon. The spacecraft is also unique in that it uses stainless steel instead of lightweight metals like aluminum and titanium.
SpaceX founder Musk hopes that Starship will one day transport astronauts to Mars. NASA also allocated billions of dollars to develop it into a lunar lander as part of the Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon. Finally, Starship is expected to play a key role in the expansion of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, allowing the company to launch large numbers of network-enabled satellites simultaneously.
To achieve these lofty goals, Starship must first prove that it can work as intended. Its stainless steel body should make it durable and quickly reusable, key to many of its missions. The rocket’s Raptor engines must also be able to ignite and re-ignite at different points during flight.
Outside observers said the fact that the spacecraft and its booster appeared to return to Earth in one piece was an important milestone. Jonathan McDowell, a researcher who tracks spaceflight at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, said this latest test flight puts the Starship program “over the hump” in actually putting a payload into orbit around the Earth.
“This exceeded my expectations, it’s awesome,” said Laura Forczyk, executive director of space consulting firm Astralytical.
SpaceX makes significant progress in three previous tests
Starship’s first test launch in April 2023 ended with the entire rocket exploding over the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft triggered its self-destruct system before reaching orbit, ending the second test flight.
But on its third test flight, Starship performed more like a real spaceship. It successfully reached its intended orbit and sailed halfway around the Earth.
Many questions remain. The cargo door doesn’t seem to open properly. As the starship began to reenter Earth’s atmosphere, it rolled. SpaceX believes a clogged valve prevented the roll control thrusters from functioning properly. Superheated gases surrounding the craft eventually caused it to disintegrate somewhere over the Indian Ocean.
At the same time, there were also problems with the super-heavy booster. When it re-entered the atmosphere and fell back to Earth, its engines failed to re-ignite properly. It broke over the Gulf of Mexico.
With this launch, the company goes further than ever before
SpaceX has made several modifications to Starship in preparation for its fourth launch. Engineers added additional roll-control thrusters to prevent it from rolling. They also made modifications to help the Super Heavy boosters reignite their engines more reliably.
As the giant spacecraft lifted off from its launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, all but one of Starship’s 33 first-stage Raptor engines fired as expected.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
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The company also took care to ensure its heat shield remained intact, removing some tiles that had been intentionally removed to test the structure’s response to heating.
The test had notable problems, such as engine failure and the partial disintegration of at least one of the starship’s fins.
However, experts agree that the fourth flight is an important milestone for the program. SpaceX has collected valuable data that will further the development of the system.
“It’s not perfect,” Folcik said. “But I don’t think anyone believes it’s going to be perfect.”
Starship may still be several test flights away from actually putting cargo into orbit, McDowell said. Still, he said, “They’ve successfully demonstrated some of the most difficult parts.”
“I think they were very happy with the flight,” he said.
As the company’s webcast drew to a close, SpaceX engineers Kate Tice and Jessica Anderson celebrated the landing by toasting marshmallows — a nod to the searing heat of reentry.
“Like a starship, I love this toast,” Tess joked as she held up her flaming snack. She then promised: “We will have more test flights soon!”
