SpaceX manages to catch part of its megarocket in flight

Successful bet: SpaceX managed on Sunday during a spectacular maneuver to catch up with the first stage of its Starship megarocket during a test flight, a first which could represent a decisive step towards the reuse of this heavy launcher. “Mechazilla caught the Super Heavy booster!” the company enthused on its X account after a flight of around nine minutes, in reference to the nickname of its launch tower.

The two stages of the rocket – the largest and most powerful in the world – must at the end of its development be recovered and reused after each flight. A strategy aimed at being able to launch more machines more quickly, and for much less money.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s company aims to use Starship to colonize Mars. The development of the spacecraft is also closely monitored by NASA, which is counting on it to bring its astronauts back to the surface of the Moon.

Takeoff of this 5th Starship test flight took place at 7:25 a.m. local time from the company’s Starbase space base, in the far south of Texas in the United States. The rocket consists of the Super Heavy first stage and, above it, the Starship, which by extension gives its name to the entire launcher.

Super Heavy alone is some 70 meters tall (the complete rocket is 120). During each flight, it detaches from the ship after propelling it using its 33 powerful engines. Until now, it was going to end its journey in the sea, but SpaceX managed this time to get it back on its launch pad, from the first attempt of this delicate maneuver, around nine minutes after takeoff.

Before the Super Heavy stage could touch the ground, mechanical arms installed on the launch tower, nicknamed “the wands”, closed on it and immobilized it, we could see on the stream SpaceX video.

“SpaceX engineers spent years preparing for the capture attempt,” the company wrote ahead of the launch. “Tens of thousands of hours” were spent by technicians “putting in place the necessary infrastructure to maximize our chances of success,” she added.

For its part, the Starship will continue its flight until landing in the Indian Ocean. It had for the first time successfully landed gently in this ocean during the previous test flight, four months ago.

Images broadcast live by cameras on the ship then showed a layer of orange plasma when it returned from space, due to friction with the atmosphere. Pieces had broken off under the pressure.

Since then, SpaceX has said it has carried out “a complete overhaul of the heat shield” of the ship, by installing “new generation” tiles.

The development of Starship is being carried out vigorously by SpaceX, launching prototypes without cargo, in order to quickly correct the problems encountered in real flight situations. In recent weeks, the company has openly complained about the slowness of the American aviation regulator (FAA), responsible for flight authorizations.

“It takes more time to complete the administrative formalities necessary to obtain a license to launch a rocket than to design and build the equipment itself,” the company was offended in a rare and long press release in September.

Elon Musk, who over the years has made a shift to the right and now ostensibly supports Donald Trump for the November 5 presidential election, had called on the head of the FAA to resign.

SpaceX is also fighting accusations of environmental pollution, particularly linked to the deluge of water poured during each Starship launch when the engines are ignited, in order to attenuate acoustic waves and thus limit vibrations.

This system was added after the first test flight, in April 2023, destroyed part of the launch pad under the power of takeoff, catapulting debris and a cloud of dust.

Several environmental associations denounce the damage caused by SpaceX’s operations to animal species, with the space base being installed right next to a protected reserve.