SpaceX efficiently launched its sixth check flight of Starship on Tuesday from Starbase, Texas. There was no catch as we speak, 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 stored security as a precedence as all the time and determined that situations for a catch try weren’t met. It referred to as for a booster offshore divert and accomplished it with no points.
CEO Elon Musk stated in a submit on X that he hoped to catch Tremendous Heavy sooner and more durable with this launch, together with three different targets:
The targets for Starship Flight 6 are:
1. Restart of Raptor engines in vacuum.
2. Daylight touchdown of the ship.
3. Greater peak heating (steeper) reentry.
4. Sooner/more durable booster catch.There are literally thousands of small design adjustments additionally being examined.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2024
The Banana Payload
SpaceX teased the involvement of a banana for IFT-6 with pictures 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 stated it could 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 previously. Additionally, it appears to be an indication that SpaceX is able to begin testing payloads, with launches happening in 2025.
You may choose up a number 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 tip of the yr. The fifth Starship launch passed off 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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