A preview on a video of the rocket’s fourth flight test highlights suggests that SpaceX’s Starship may be testing a new milestone during its upcoming flight test.
A montage of significant moments from Starship’s fourth flight test, which took place on June 6, was shared by SpaceX on X (previously Twitter) on Thursday, July 4. The film includes scenes from the Starship upper stage’s ignition, liftoff, booster separation, and reentry, as well as the Super Heavy booster.
A 400-foot-tall (122-meter-tall) Super Heavy is shown in an animation at the end of the video returning to land at Starship’s launch tower, dubbed “Mechazilla,” next to the words “Next up” and “Flight 5,” implying that the company intends to try to catch the booster during its next flight test. According to the business, SpaceX intends to snag Super Heavy on its launch tower in order to refurbish and restart the rocket more quickly.
Elon Musk, the creator and CEO of SpaceX, has also made similar social media suggestions. “Aiming to try this in late July!” Last month, after Starship’s fourth flight test, Musk wrote on X.
A 60-second animation shows the “chopstick” arms on the massive Mechazilla launch tower grabbing a Super Heavy booster as it approaches Starbase, SpaceX’s South Texas facility, for landing was previously released by the corporation.
Before that, on June 27, the business uploaded a brief video to X showing Mechzilla’s chopstick arms grabbing a Super Heavy that was still while it sat straight on its launch mount. The description of the video read, “Starbase team testing the tower chopsticks for the upcoming catch of a Super Heavy booster,” according to SpaceX.
To date, Starship has launched four times: on March 18, 2024, April and November 2023, and June 6, 2024. Every test was more successful than the last, reaching new benchmarks with each passing.
Starship’s two stages failed to separate on its initial flight, and the vehicle exploded in less than five minutes. During their most recent trip, Super Heavy and Starship both made ocean splashdowns upon returning to Earth’s atmosphere unharmed.
The enormous vehicle was created with off-world travel in mind. NASA intends to use the rocket to land personnel on the moon during the Artemis mission, while SpaceX wants to send Starship to Mars and maybe assist in settling humans there.