An Unbelievable Sight Even in Live Video
"A Moment to Be Recorded in the Engineering History Textbook"
Starship, the spacecraft from SpaceX led by American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has successfully completed its first ground recovery. The astonishing sight, resembling a video played in reverse, left online viewers watching the live stream in disbelief.
On the 13th (local time), the test flight of Starship, broadcast live on X and other platforms, concluded successfully. The massive rocket, measuring 71 meters in length and 9 meters in diameter, returned to the launch site just seven minutes after liftoff and was caught by robotic arms resembling giant chopsticks. This achievement marks the completion of a fully automated launch system from liftoff to landing and rocket recovery.
The Super Heavy rocket used in this launch test landed on the ground using a retropropulsion method. This technique, also seen in SpaceX’s cargo rocket Falcon 9, involves igniting the rocket engines as it approaches the ground to reduce speed, then gradually adjusting its orientation to land precisely at the target spot.
The Super Heavy booster, the first-stage propulsion system, is returning to Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, during Starship's fifth Earth orbit test flight. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]
Most importantly, the rocket must be caught precisely within the two robotic arms, requiring highly advanced control technology. SpaceX’s engineering team effectively threw a steel mass roughly the size of a high-rise building into the air and then recovered it accurately.
Musk himself showed special affection by nicknaming the rocket recovery tower equipped with robotic arms “Mechazilla,” comparing it to the movie monster Godzilla.
Viewers watching this spectacle expressed disbelief. One X user asked Musk’s account, “Is this real?” Musk replied directly, saying, “It’s science fiction. Just without the fiction part.”
Kate Tice, a SpaceX engineer who streamed the Starship test flight online, said, “Today is a day that will be recorded in the history books of engineering,” adding, “No one can believe it. When the chopsticks grabbed the booster, I was trying hard to hold back tears.”
With this, SpaceX succeeded in recovering the Starship’s first-stage booster on the fifth experimental attempt. Previous attempts at Earth orbit test flights in April and November last year, and March and June this year, were not completely successful.
This experiment enabled the recovery of the first-stage booster on Earth, and the second-stage spacecraft currently orbiting will return to Earth after completing its scheduled flight and attempt a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX expects that using this recovery technology will dramatically reduce costs for deep space exploration and space cargo transportation.
Starship is the key spacecraft for Musk’s “human migration to Mars plan.”
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