Elon Musk’s spaceship makes successful test flight despite aborting ‘Mechazilla’ booster capture

Elon Musk’s SpaceX spaceship has successfully performed another spectacular launch Tuesday – but aborted an attempt to capture the Super Heavy booster rocket with the ‘Mechazilla’ arms.

Hundreds gathered at SpaceX’s star base in Boca Chica, Texas, to watch Starship’s sixth test flight, including President-elect Donald Trump, who flew from Mar-a-Lago to meet SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

SpaceX was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle for a second time after last month’s successful capture – a spectacular maneuver in which the reusable booster detaches from the Starship spacecraft and then uses its thrusters to land safely back in space. Mechanical claw “Mechazilla”. on the launch tower.

However, engineers shocked onlookers when they called shortly after liftoff as the boosters separated from the main body of the spaceship.

Instead, the booster made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX did not say Tuesday evening what issue led engineers to scrap the capture attempt, but the company previously said that if the proper criteria were not met at the time of the separation, it would not risk a capture on Tuesday.

The Starship portion of the rocket, meanwhile, performed a daytime landing in the Indian Ocean – with the company aiming for a more controlled vertical landing as opposed to the traditional belly flop to fully test the spacecraft’s systems.

Despite failing to attempt another capture, the company did meet one of Musk’s main goals for the mission: reigniting the Raptor engines while in space — a first for SpaceX.

Starship is designed to be completely and quickly reusable, saving SpaceX significant costs and resources, which would help the company achieve its ultimate goal of pioneering voyages to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX has had five previous Starship test flights, starting in April 2023, with each test making steady progress.

During the first two attempts, in April and November last year, engine failures derailed the mission before the craft left the launch pad.

In March this year, the spacecraft was successfully launched, but the Falcon Super Heavy booster was destroyed about 1,500 feet above the ocean and did not return to Earth as planned.

The spaceship is believed to have disintegrated before the planned landing.

The fourth test launch, in June, saw a successful launch and controlled landing of the booster in the Gulf of Mexico and the craft itself in the Indian Ocean.

During its fifth launch in October, the company celebrated a major milestone when the Super Heavy booster rocket flew back to the launch pad seven minutes after liftoff, where it was shot down. captured by mechanical arms on the launch tower so that it can be reused.

NASA is pinning its hopes on Starship’s success to use the spacecraft for a return to the moon, scheduled for 2027-2028.