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Space

SpaceX's Starship Completes Fifth Test Flight - and Lands Booster Back at Launch Tower (cnbc.com) 59

Posted by EditorDavid from the nice-catch dept.
Early this morning SpaceX successfully launched its Starship rocket on its fifth test flight. But more importantly, CNBC points out, SpaceX "made a dramatic first catch of the rocket's more than 20-story tall booster."

Watch the footage here. It's pretty exciting... The achievement marks a major milestone toward SpaceX's goal of making Starship a fully reusable rocket system... The rocket's "Super Heavy" booster returned to land on the arms of the company's launch tower nearly seven minutes after launch.

"Are you kidding me?" SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the company's webcast. "What we just saw, that looked like magic," Huot added...

Starship separated and continued on to space, traveling halfway around the Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean as intended to complete the test. There were no people on board the fifth Starship flight. The company's leadership has said SpaceX expects to fly hundreds of Starship missions before the rocket launches with any crew...

With the booster catch, SpaceX has surpassed the fourth test flight's milestones... The company sees the ambitious catch approach as critical to its goal of making the rocket fully reusable. "SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success," the company wrote on its website.

SpaceX's Starship Completes Fifth Test Flight - and Lands Booster Back at Launch Tower More | Reply

SpaceX's Starship Completes Fifth Test Flight - and Lands Booster Back at Launch Tower

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  • Congradulations (Score:4)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @11:52AM (#64860787)
    ...to SpaceX and Elon Musk. Looking forward to #6.

    • Suck it, Musk haters! A few years from now nobody will remember who that Brazilian judge was, but our grandchildren will remember today.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by fluffernutter ( 1411889 )
        Did Musk actually build this rocket or was it people he hired?

      • Other than owning the company, what did Musk actually do here? It's like a team wins the Superbowl and the owner gets to raise the trophy.

        • And what did you do today, besides posting on /.?
          • I don't think anyone is saying they are better than him. Let's face it though, a lot of people could have done what he did if they had limitless cash. And if you have powerful connections you don't even need that.

            • And yet they didn't.

              Like many company leaders, Musk provides vision.

              • Right, and yet they don't have the right connections.
              • Apple abandoned their own self-driving car project, which they spent $10b on. Boeing also is trying to sell ULA, which fucked up Starliner. So no, anyone with near-limitless cash can't do it. The evidence is overwhelming.

          • Anything you do is more useful than space stunts.

            • His Starlink system is serving the Ukraine forces, and is getting internet to people in the wake of Hurricane disaster zones. So, no. It isn't. Not by miles.

        • Other than owning the company, what did Musk actually do here? It's like a team wins the Superbowl and the owner gets to raise the trophy.

          Nothing, of course, because liberals can prove on TikTok that SpaceX arose spontaneously from dark energy. But we all know that had the Starship gone astray and hit a town in Tamaulipas, Minsk would have been personally responsible for that happening, and we would be hearing about it forever.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by XXongo ( 3986865 )

            Elon Musk, as the colorful and larger-than-life front man, ends up grabbing the credit for all the things that his companies do, both accomplishments and failures.

            In fact, it's the company he's put together. But you have to give his vision some credit, for steering the company the right way.

            Musk himself, like most consequential men, has good points and bad points. Right now I'd say that his propensity to make decisions on impulse and to fire anybody who disagrees with him to any respect whatsoever means h

        • First of all, he's not the sole proprietor. Second of all, he's more involved in the R&D than you think. If this was Neuralink, you might have a point (speak of which, the first guy to receive the implant got a job as a camera operator) and ironically your little hate club wants to see that one fail the most.

          • First of all, he's not the sole proprietor. Second of all, he's more involved in the R&D than you think.

            How can he when all he does is shit post to his personal social media site? Yeah I can really picture Elmo sitting down and adding his verifier signature to some cad drawings.

            • That isn't all he does, but your hatred is so awesome, because people who live in reality know it irks people like you, who live in delusion. Dumbass

        • Re:Congradulations (Score:5, Insightful)

          by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @12:38PM (#64860877)
          Nowadays, spacex is rolling forward and doesnt need Musk much anymore. 10 years ago, it was a totally different story. The company was very much driven by the guy’s vision and charisma. The science was all there - any of the big space companies could have done what Musk did, but they didn’t. They lacked the vision, leadership, willingness to take risks, and energy. Musk provided all of that. spaceX would never have come into being without him. Without the guy, we’d barely be past space-shuttle tech.

          Between SpaceX and Tesla, Musk is clearly the greatest industrial businessman of his generation. He’s the Henry Ford of this era.

          But, just like Ford, Musk isn’t the nicest guy on the planet, he’s got an ugly side, and he’s pretty clearly past his prime. If he’s smart, he’ll get out his own way and let Tesla and SpaceX move towards their logical conclusions. He can still play a positive role as a senior leader and solidify his place in history.

          https://youtu.be/WLjr3dzOUpQ?s... [youtu.be]
          • Ford was right, and so is Musk. The ultimate Hubris of the 20th and 21st century is seeing cucks like yourself think they can out think and have a better grasp on reality, morals, and ethics by guys like that who can out-think just about every other human being on the planet.

      • The grandchildren, if there are any, will be wondering how to pay the rent and where the next meal is coming from. It won't be dropping from space.

      • Re:Congradulations (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Mascot ( 120795 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @12:49PM (#64860907)

        Suck it, Musk haters! A few years from now nobody will remember who that Brazilian judge was, but our grandchildren will remember today.

        There's no issue with people strongly disliking Elon, and still cheering for what SpaceX is accomplishing. It's not like you have to pick one or the other.

        As for being remembered, both SpaceX and Elon certainly will. The question is whether Elon will be remembered primarily for SpaceX or his.. less savory ventures.

      • I think everyone can agree a day closer to Musk and all his followers leaving earth is a win for everyone.

      • Can't wait to become a member of the Tres Comas club so people will ride my dick for free.

    • Amazing feat

  • .. and say meh whats new. But thats pretty fucking impressive.

    How does it know its position so accurately, GPS or some SpaceX bespoke system?

  • Their scientists, engineers and craftspeople are accomplishing great things
    I have lost all respect for Musk as he appears to be going insane and turning into a super-villain
    Both Spacex and Tesla need new CEOs

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      So you're going to replace the CEOs of these companies when they appear to be doing exceptionally well? Please explain your thought processes.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by EvilSS ( 557649 )

        So you're going to replace the CEOs of these companies when they appear to be doing exceptionally well? Please explain your thought processes.

        "Space man bad"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by BigFire ( 13822 )

        SouthAfrikanManBad.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by XXongo ( 3986865 )

        So you're going to replace the CEOs of these companies when they appear to be doing exceptionally well? Please explain your thought processes.

        It's not always true that a person who's brilliant at starting a company, or at ramping up a company from a garage shop to a billion-dollar venture, is also good at running one once it's grown.

        If I were to give Musk advice, I'd say, quit Twitter (oops, I mean X) cold turkey, and go back to doing the things you're good at. But there's no possibioity I would ever be in a position to give him advice, nor any possibility he would listen if I did. (The second piece of advice I'd give him is to stop firing peop

        • It's not always true that a person who's brilliant at starting a company, or at ramping up a company from a garage shop to a billion-dollar venture, is also good at running one once it's grown.

          And yet, here he is.

    • Musk is not the CEO of SpaceX.

  • Impressive. (Score:3)

    by Ecuador ( 740021 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @12:36PM (#64860863) Homepage

    Quite impressive. In fact SpaceX is the only company that really impresses me nowadays, it's a bit like back in the space race, except the others are way far behind currently.
    I don't remember the reason of having to catch vs landing on legs like they have been doing? Is it for faster reassembly? Or to not damage the landing area?

    • It costs less if you don't have to keep rebuilding the pad, and you can directly easily connect the tower to the rocket to transfer cargo and people.
    • One of the reasons why a catch was chosen rather than landing legs is due to the weight the landing legs would add. With the large amount of mass the booster has, the landing legs would have to be quite beefy and with that adds a lot more dry mass to the booster and reduces the amount of payload the booster has the ability to lift. By placing all the heavy beefy 'landing' infrastructure on the ground, the rocket can have less dry mass, more fuel capacity, and more payload capacity.

  • Excitement guaranteed (Score:3)

    by BigFire ( 13822 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @01:05PM (#64860949)

    Excitement delivered.

  • Why isn't anyone talking about the flames coming out of the side of the booster? Is this nominal behavior?


    And as far as musk goes. He can be associated with companies that do interesting things and also be a supreme fuckwad. The two are not mutually exclusive.

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