SpaceX achieved new feats during the sixth major test launch of its Starship system but nixed an eagerly anticipated midair "catch" of the rocket's booster as President-elect Donald Trump looked on in South Texas.
SpaceX's launch system, comprised of the booster and Starship upper spacecraft, cleared the tower shortly after 4 p.m. local time on Tuesday. But minutes into the flight, SpaceX scrapped plans to attempt to catch the booster with giant mechanical arms - referred to as 'chopsticks' - which the company completed during its previous flight. The booster, dubbed Super Heavy, was still able to perform a controlled landing in the ocean.
"It was pretty epic on attempt one, but the safety of the teams and the public and the pad itself are paramount," SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said on a live broadcast. "So we are accepting compromises."
After Super Heavy landed in the Gulf of Mexico, Starship continued its voyage through space. At one point, it successfully reignited one of its Raptor engines - the first time SpaceX was able to do so during these flight tests. Starship will need to reignite its engines in order to control its descent to Earth and maneuver through space.
Starship then circled most of the globe before plunging through the atmosphere about 45 minutes into the mission, its body engulfed in the reddish orange glow of plasma as its upgraded heat shield endured intense temperatures while hurtling back to Earth.
Starship appeared to survive the reentry, moving its exterior flaps to help guide its descent, though some showed signs of burn and slight damage. Then, as Starship fell through clouds, it flipped itself and reignited its engines to turn upright and softly splash into the Indian Ocean shortly after 6 p.m. New York time. It then appeared to catch on fire.
"Turns out the vehicle had more capability than our calculations predicted, and that is why we test like we fly," Tice said.
The largest and most powerful rocket ever developed, Starship is under contract to function as a lunar lander that NASA will use to put people back on the moon for the first time in half a century. It's the centerpiece of Musk's ambition to start a settlement on Mars.
The vehicle is also meant to revolutionize SpaceX's business plan. Designed to be fully reusable, Starship will be much cheaper to fly than any other rocket, according to SpaceX, and will eventually replace the company's industry-leading Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
But to meet that promise of delivering a fully reusable rocket, SpaceX must refine its technique for recovering all of the pieces of Starship after launch.
Around the time SpaceX aborted the booster catch, Trump and Musk left to visit the Starfactory courtyard for a visual tour of the factory bays and rockets.
Trump had arrived at a launch viewing location with Musk about an hour before liftoff. Trump, wearing a blue suit and red MAGA hat, stood flanked by allies, including Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump Jr., as the group peppered Musk with questions on how the launch works.
It was Trump's first visit to a Starship launch. It follows several appearances with Musk, who has spent a significant amount of time at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, joining in on transition meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders. The billionaire, who campaigned on behalf of Trump in crucial swing state Pennsylvania, will lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, an entity that will recommend federal spending cuts, alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk, who has been a near-constant fixture of Trump's inner circle since the Nov. 5 election, has maintained that overregulation, especially surrounding Starship, factored into his decision to support the Republican.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said on Friday that as many as 400 Starship flights were possible over the next four years. That frequency can only happen if SpaceX perfects its landing strategy, so the company can quickly turn around the rockets for their next flights. Shotwell described the process as similar to the way airlines drive down the cost of owning and operating commercial jetliners.
During the October test, the booster came very close to crashing near the tower, Musk said in a video on his X platform. SpaceX will need to address that issue as well as a laundry list of other things, such as refueling the vehicle in space, before Starship lives up to the full scope of Musk's plans.
