SpaceX recovers the first stage of its megarocket, a historic first

It’s a small engineering miracle, accomplished on Sunday by the teams of Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX: during a spectacular maneuver, the first stage of its Starship megarocket returned to its launch pad, before being delicately grabbed by the two mechanical “arms” of the launch tower after a flight of approximately nine minutes. « Mechazilla grabbed the Super Heavy booster ! »the company enthused on its X account, while cries of joy had been ringing out for a few seconds in the control room. “Mechazilla” is the nickname of the 122 meter high launch tower of the mega rocket. Takeoff of this 5th Starship test flight took place at 7:25 a.m. local time (2:25 p.m. French time) from the company’s Starbase space base, in the far south of Texas in the United States.

The heavy launcher carrying the Starship vessel thus achieves a first, which could represent a decisive step towards its reuse. The company had already managed to recover the Falcon 9 rocket, which has 333 landings out of 377 launches, and 308 reuse, and the Falcon Heavy version. The issue was more complex with the Super Heavy and its 70 meters high, which could be caught and immobilized by the “rods” before hitting the ground. A process made essential by the weight and power of the rocket, which cannot land without first being mechanically braked.

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Two objectives

In total, the 120 meter high rocket is made up of Super Heavy and, above it, the Starship, which by extension gives its name to the entire launcher. During each flight, Super Heavy 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 this time managed to bring it back to its launch pad, a few minutes after takeoff.

The Starship continued its flight until landing in the Indian Ocean. « The ship arrived precisely on its target ! The second of the two objectives has been achieved »said Elon Musk on X. Starship 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 vessel.

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The most powerful rocket in the world

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 as part of the Artemis missions. « As the most powerful launch system ever developed, Starship will be capable of carrying up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flightsaims for Space X on its website. Starship will also enable satellite delivery, lunar base development, and point-to-point transportation on Earth. »

« SpaceX engineers spent years preparing for the capture attempt »indicated the company ahead of the launch. « Tens of thousands of hours » were devoted by the technicians « to putting in place the infrastructure necessary to maximize our chances of success ».

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Controversies

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 paperwork required to obtain a license to launch a rocket than it does to design and build the hardware itself »the company was offended in a rare and long press release published 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.