SpaceX failed to catch its Super Heavy booster on Friday during the 15th test flight of its Starship rocket. The Starship spacecraft itself reached orbit and was on track to return to Texas on Saturday.
The flight was first planned as a double catch of both the booster and the spaceship. SpaceX has never caught the Starship spacecraft before.
“The booster aborted itself for a GNC (guidance, navigation and control) issue that it detected,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said.
The 124-metre rocket lifted off on Friday afternoon from its launch pad at Starbase in Texas. After the two stages split in mid-air, the booster was meant to be caught at Launch Pad 2, Huot said.
Near the end of its fall, the booster turned away to the Gulf of Mexico, just off the launch site. It destroyed itself automatically before it hit the water.
The Starship spacecraft was expected to circle the Earth 14 times before coming back. About seven hours after launch, SpaceX said: “Starship and its heat shield are healthy.”
“We’re not tracking any issues right now with the vehicle or with the range for our return, so everything continuing to look good,” Huot said.
Starship also carried 26 satellites into space on Friday. They will join Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet network.
Clayton Swope, an aerospace expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the mission a “mixed bag so far”. SpaceX has caught the Super Heavy booster three times before.
“At least the Starship made it to orbit, like on the last test flight,” Swope said.
NASA plans to use Starship as a Moon lander for its Artemis mission. NASA head Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on Friday for “another spectacular launch”. He did not mention the booster problem.
Catching the spaceship is much harder than catching the booster. The spaceship falls from a much greater height and at a much higher speed.
Like the booster in earlier flights, Starship must slow down and settle between two metal “chopstick arms” at the launch site.
“We’ll only go for it if the ship passes all of these system checks and decision gates along the way, and there are lots of them,” SpaceX commentator Kate Tice said.
If something goes wrong, SpaceX has plans to cut the flight short. In that case, the spaceship would drop into the Pacific Ocean.
Fully reusable rockets could cut the cost of space missions by a lot. They could also allow many more launches.
Some Starship versions are built to carry internet satellites and data centres into orbit. Others are meant to take people to the Moon and Mars.
The Starship project has faced years of delays. One problem still not solved is moving fuel into the spaceship while it is in orbit. This is needed for any trip to the Moon or Mars.
SpaceX listed on the stock market in June and raised about $85.7 billion. During a tour of its Starbase factory on Friday, officials told journalists it can now build a spaceship every two weeks and a booster every four weeks.
SpaceX planned to recover Starship at about 3.20pm local time (21:20 GMT) on Saturday, after more than 22 hours of flight.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL Technology. Image: IOL Technology. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.