After a very successful flight on October 13, SpaceX was eager to relaunch its Starship rocket from its Boca Chica launch pad (in Texas). Under the eyes of newly elected President Donald Trump (red helmet aimed at the skull), the Starship left Earth this Tuesday evening at 10 p.m. French time.
The flight plan was then quite simple. It was necessary to reproduce all the successes of the 5th flight, in particular the smooth return of the first stage to the launch pad. In addition to this, SpaceX had planned a unique maneuver with the ignition of an engine of the ship once it was in space. This very small correction was to lead to Starship’s return to Earth, thus proving that it was capable of safely re-entering the atmosphere.
A first phase more complicated than expected
It was therefore at exactly 10 p.m. that takeoff took place. The 33 Raptor engines of the first stage ignited and with a deafening noise, they took off the approximately 5,000 tons of steel, in the direction: space. After a crazy acceleration, the first stage ran out of fuel. The two sections then came apart.
The Starship continued on its way, while the first stage (Super Heavy) dropped towards Earth. The objective was then to use the few drops of fuel still present in the tanks for a last minute ignition.
Super Heavy then had to land gently on the launch pad, caught in flight by robotic arms built for the occasion. The very complex maneuver had already succeeded on October 13. SpaceX was therefore quite confident during this attempt.
But as you might have guessed from the use of the conditional in this article, everything did not go as planned. Very quickly during its descent, Super Heavy has gotten out of control. SpaceX eventually abandoned the idea of recovering the first stage and it sank in the Gulf of Mexico.
The door open to orbit
Fortunately for SpaceX, not the entire flight was a failure. Because the second part of the flight plan went perfectly. Starship therefore continued its journey alone, arriving in space. After 38 minutes of flight, one of the six Raptor engines ignited to a very small trajectory correction.
This small change in the ship’s speed was enough to send it plummeting toward Earth. A maneuver that may not seem like much, but which allows SpaceX to prove that its ship is capable of restarting its engines once in space to reach Earth safely.
This ability to return to Earth should allow SpaceX to aim for orbit during its next Starship flight. The megarocket was designed to carry out several flights into orbit per year in order to deposit payloads (satellites, resupply missions to the ISS, etc.).
In the long term, SpaceX must also take part in NASA’s Artemis missions, which plans to bring humans back to the Moon. It is Starship which will be in charge of the descent to our satellite and the return of the astronauts to Earth.
