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Space

SpaceX's Starship Completes Fifth Test Flight - and Lands Booster Back at Launch Tower (cnbc.com) 203

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.

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

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  • Congradulations (Score:5, Informative)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @10:52AM (#64860787)
    ...to SpaceX and Elon Musk. Looking forward to #6.
    • 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?

    • by Eunomion ( 8640039 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @11:25AM (#64860833)
      GPS is way too slow and imprecise. SpaceX onboard GNC software is crazy advanced. The rest of the world still marvels at Falcon 9s landing on ships at sea regularly, and this demonstration leaves that in the dust. It even seems to have shocked some of the people who did it.
      • by ArmoredDragon ( 3450605 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @11:40AM (#64860883)

        What's the most impressive was that the very first attempt was a complete success.

        • by Ksevio ( 865461 )

          Was kind of hoping it would fail just to see a spectacular booster explosion. At least they gave a buoy view of the ship exploding after splashdown as consolation

        • by BigFire ( 13822 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @12:08PM (#64860961)

          According to Bill Gerstenmaier of SpaceX, that booster's landing was within 5 centimeter of the target. So they had a great confidence that it will work. FAA license to SpaceX is for both IFT-5 and IFT-6. So I expect IFT-6 on either December or January.

          • FAA license to SpaceX is for both IFT-5 and IFT-6. So I expect IFT-6 on either December or January.

            It's a good thing they did because the FAA has been by far the biggest impediment to Starship, and for reasons not even related to safety, environment, etc, but basically just taking unnecessarily and excessively long periods of time to review, even kicking it back multiple times over administrative and procedural matters completely unrelated to the mission. Just pure red tape that didn't even tangle up MCAS.

            • I think the problem is that SpaceX is iterating so quickly that almost every test has had some parameters tweaked - whether it is the trajectory, the vehicles involved, etc.

              It is a legitimate call out from both SpaceX (and from the FAA) that SpaceX launches are now constituting the majority of the space-related reviews and licenses that the FAA has to deal with. Either they need more resources, or they need to think about modifying the licensing regime (both for experimental test flights, and for commercia

              • by BigFire ( 13822 )

                Starship/Super Heavy development have shown that SpaceX moves much faster than FAA can keep up. They have more built test vehicles on deck ready to fly.

          • According to Bill Gerstenmaier of SpaceX, that booster's landing was within 5 centimeter of the target.

            Also landing Starship was on target. Spacex had buoys set up with cameras in the ocean northwest of Australia to watch it hit the targeted landing zone. Seeing the reflection of the rockets off the water at night (in the camera) was pretty cool, then as it touched down watching Starship sink into the ocean like some dying fire breathing monster was the end of an awesome weekend (that started with throwing my wife a surprise party - lols).

            With Bezo's work on New Glen and the Mars transfer window coming up

          • by BigFire ( 13822 )

            To correct myself, IFT-4 booster was within 0.5 centimeter of the target zone.

    • Well if you want to be cynical you can say less of a land, more of a catch. Either way doesn't reduce the significance.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      I've heard Falcon 9 uses GPS and intertial measurement, maybe some differential GPS from the landing pad. The Starship booster probably does the same, although with the pad being fixed it might not even need the GPS. The boosters are only flying for a few minutes and good optical IMUs can be extremely accurate over short integration times.

      • I've heard Falcon 9 uses GPS and intertial measurement, maybe some differential GPS from the landing pad.

        That rectangular device in your pocket uses multiple sensors for positioning, GPS is just one of them. No reason to believe a rocket can't.

  • by Ecuador ( 740021 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @11:36AM (#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?

    • Re:Impressive. (Score:5, Informative)

      by FallOutBoyTonto ( 6835322 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @12:41PM (#64861049)
      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.
  • by BigFire ( 13822 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @12:05PM (#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.
    • by BigFire ( 13822 )

      Both Everyday Astronaut and NASASpaceFlight brought that issue during their stream.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      It's one of the methane vents, and the fire is well up in the methane cloud. There's a camera angle from the tower in the stream and you can see it. They're probably dumping excess fuel.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Spy Handler ( 822350 )

      Why do you call Elon a fuckwad? Because he doesn't agree with regime changing every nation that refuses to become JUSA's little bitch?

      Or maybe it's because Elon doesn't think JUSA should be bombing the crap out of brown people villages in the Middle East just to get more oil or satisfy the zionists in AIPAC that buy the JUSA Congress every year.

      Of course you probably think that all that regime changing and coup instigating and brown people village bombing is all so that we can spread DEMOCRACY and FREEDOM t

  • by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @02:27PM (#64861267)

    The mission was great. The video of it is great. The achievements almost too many to count. (One that doesn't get enough mention is the ability to maintain contact through Starlink)

    Yet what impresses me most are the video cuts of the SpaceX team itself. Cheering. How many companies can you name that can produce that? Although they are still there the white crew-cut horn-rimmed pocket protector members no longer dominate. I see women, black, Asian, Hispanic members of the team. And they are REALLY into it.

    Elon Musk gets credit for that.

    I wish I could stop there. Not too long ago I could.

    I watch the SpaceX video announcers do their excellent job live-streaming and explaining everything. For the women I have to wonder what they think of Elon Musk's current politics, in full throttle support for the guy who brags about bringing about their loss of reproductive health care rights. They are in Texas, no less, where SB8 makes it law that everyone in the world has more say over what happens in their bodies than they do themselves. Beyond that, Musk has gone all in on supporting a convicted felon for president. The guy who attempted a violent coup to stay in power and Musk apparently believes that unless we install him again that will be the end of democracy. Proven grifter. Proven sex offender. Proven fraud. On record of lying more than 30,000 times over four years. [washingtonpost.com] (that is over 20 per day 24/7).

    I am pretty sure you will never hear from any SpaceX or Tesla employee about their political views. That tells you a lot right there. But something tells me a majority of his employees are not going to be voting the way he would prefer.

    • Yet what impresses me most are the video cuts of the SpaceX team itself. Cheering. How many companies can you name that can produce that?

      You've clearly never started up a large engineering project before. To answer that question: Many companies do that. Many companies feature teams that are extremely dedicated and happy to do what they do, especially when their achievement and culminate in a single moment. The difference is you care about this one enough to look at them, and they think you care enough to live stream it.

      We didn't have a film crew at the last major start-up we had, but we weren't in any less of a good mood, or any less diverse

      • Your point is well taken and as you surmised, I haven't done large-scale projects. Smaller ones.

        My point was not that this doesn't happen elsewhere but it doesn't very often and certainly not to that degree. You think Boeing today could possibly host a scene like that? Their prevailing emotion is that they hate SpaceX so much it was reported in mainstream press. Then what about any other areo-space company? Or how about any companies in other industry sectors?

        Yeah, I'd say Nvidia has hosted a few

    • by BigFire ( 13822 )

      At SpaceX, they don't seek to fill a check box during the hiring. You either deliver on performance or you're gone. It's meritocracy all the way. I don't think they care in anyway whatever label their employee slap on themselves. They just have to deliver and on Elon's schedule.

    • by tiqui ( 1024021 ) on Monday October 14, 2024 @04:09AM (#64862669)

      This thread has NOTHING to do with politics, yet you simply cannot resist ranting and raving with MSNBC talking points about Trump (who has NOTHING to do with this launch).

      If you are going to waste everybody's time with the derangement, at least try using actual facts, not delusional DNC factiods of the sort Joy Behar and Rachel Maddow pump daily into the national arteries. You guys are so scripted, and the crap so easily debunked, that it's hardly worth the effort, but somebody has to defend REALITY even if that requires appearing to defend Trump.

      "Musk has gone all in on supporting a convicted felon for president." - First, in the US system of justice, a person is not considered a "convicted felon" until after sentencing. Trump will not be sentenced (in the hush payments case) until after the election. Your record is also scrubbed if you do not live long enough to get your appeals. Therefore, Trump is not yet "a convicted felon" and had he been successfully assassinated, he would have died an innocent man. So, now YOU, not Trump, are the guy ticking the "lie" meter. Oh, and FYI Elon is NOT supporting Trump because he's been accused of crimes, but rather because he sees Trump as a champion of individual rights (like free speech) at a time when famous democrats want the 1st, 2nd, and 4th amendments and the Supreme Court and electoral college eliminated. The "hush payments" case your are counting on will collapse on appeal. Blackmailing is illegal in the USA and the government should have been on Trump's side in the case (HE was the victim of a blackmail attempt). The feds properly did NOTHING with the accusations of some sort of campaign finance misdeeds, and a state prosecutor twisted state laws to try to bring in a federal law that does not apply via a creative backdoor that only worked because the jury was told they did not need to agree on an underlying crime...thus even now, nobody knows what actual LAW Trump has supposedly been convicted of. The case will not withstand the appeals process. Musk is NOT the one who went nuts here - the Democrat party is going insane.

      "The guy who attempted a violent coup to stay in power..." - What the hell? WHAT "violent coup" are you talking about? On Jan 6th 2021 the single-most armed slice of the American civilian population (people on the Right) supposedly tried overthrowing the government without a single firearm???? Have you ever contemplated how insane and lame the talking points you've been fed are? In the summer of 2020 far more DC police and secret service were hurt and vastly more property damage done by anti-trump protesters who actually burned buildings and vehicles. Was THAT a "violent insurrection"? The Jan 6 protesters wanted the Constitution to be obeyed and the vote counts from about 6 states sent back for re-checking in the face of mountains of fraud. SOME protesters turned that into a riot (which very conveniently de-railed the recound demands being taken up in the Senate at that very moment). On an interesting note: we now know that there were undercover FBI agents dressed BOTH as ANTIFA and as MAGA both inside and outside the Capitol as the riot started... yet FBI director Christopher Wray still refuses to provide ANY information about [1] how many and [2] where they were, to the congress which has an absolute right to know. This will become a major political fight soon after YEARS of the FBI misleading congress on the matter.

      "and Musk apparently believes that unless we install him again that will be the end of democracy." Musk's fears appear well-grounded. The democrats have been importing tens of millions of illegal aliens into the country as fast as they can and by all possible means, including airliners flying them here, and Democrat Majority Leader Senator Schumer has publicly announced his intentions to see to it that these people all become citizens [youtube.com] with the right to vote, and top Democrats have for years claimed that

  • Great work flying both vehicles on target. Now they need to really get on that heat shielding. Yes it survived and made the target, and looked better than the last flight - but they wont' get licensed for landing Starship back at the launch site until they can demonstrate it not burning through control surfaces. FAA won't give them that until they can show there is not a danger of losing control surfaces while flying over populated areas (and no people, it's not FAA politics that'll drive this, it's safe

    • They have already changed the design of the flaps on Starship V2. They are further leeward which should stop the joint getting blasted by plasma. There are many other changes to that ship as well. But indeed, the heat shield is likely to be the trickiest piece of the puzzle to sort out with respect to rapid reusability. Other than using a simpler geometry and a better substrate (stainless steel), they aren't really doing much different from the shuttle and the tiles are still prone to damage. They can almos

  • by joh ( 27088 ) on Sunday October 13, 2024 @05:32PM (#64861637)

    You don't need to like Elon Musk to respect what he does. Really. If you like him or not would only matter if want to marry him. If you don't want to marry him, just look at what he does, not what he says.

    You people sometimes really seem to be like children. You can't marry him anyway, so why do you need to like him personally?

    • You don't need to like Elon Musk to respect what he does.

      I wish more people would realize this. The only reason I appear to be defending Elon here is because so many of these guys literally make a bunch of false claims about him and/or spacex because they badly need copium each time they see somebody they really don't like succeed. It's just conspiracy theory bullshit, there's no reason for these people to be so fucking insecure about themselves that they have to resort to straight up intellectual dishonesty to try to bring down somebody that they so badly want t

  • by mrthoughtful ( 466814 ) on Monday October 14, 2024 @03:12AM (#64862577) Journal
    Nearly every comment is about that guy. Nobody has said much about the sheer engineering gall to attempt to catch a 250 metric ton cylinder out of the air. I wept. The engineers and the scientists behind that are awesome.
  • by Zitchas ( 713512 ) on Monday October 14, 2024 @05:05AM (#64862767) Journal

    Wow. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to watch that. I wish I could have seen it in person. I feel like this is one of those moments when the game changed. I supposed more accurately, it's one of those moments where everyone finally realized that the game changed, since SpaceX and various analysts have been talking about it for years now. For me, personally, watching this was more impactful than watching any sporting event or disaster. And even better, this is the sort of hopeful triumph where there is no loser. This is "just" a pure triumph for humanity and a vast increase in our potential to get off this planet and do things elsewhere in the solar system.

    For those who want to watch the original SpaceX stream, the link to it can be found here:

    https://www.spacex.com/launche... [spacex.com]

    I personally don't like re-streamers, and find the SpaceX broadcast is the best quality and best information. Worth noting that on the rebroadcast here, after they sign off at the end, they have a few minutes of footage of the Heavy Booster landing catch from different angles, as well as footage from a drone that they flew in to circle it once it was landed. Very neat to see.

    So, any word on when Launch 6 will happen?

  • by tiqui ( 1024021 ) on Monday October 14, 2024 @05:53AM (#64862839)

    then you were able to see one of those truly rare moments in history when a total paradigm shift occurred... and it MIGHT take you years to appreciate it.

    This is NOT the completion of the project. Nothing done today will be useful in the marketplace tomorrow. There will be many more test flights, and some will surely go less-well. Today, however, Elon Musk and the team at SpaceX took a lot of back-of-the-napkin concepts that engineers have daydreamed about for as many as 70 YEARS and proved them POSSIBLE. All those long-gone engineers of the '50s through the '70s who had long bull sessions about booster recovery and re-use schemes at so many aerospace firms many of which are now only distant memories, like Convair, have vindication. It IS possible. There IS a business case for it.

    From this day forward, we KNOW that a relatively inexpensive mass-produced stainless steel first stage can lift hundreds of tons of upper-stage to an altitude of over 65km, and a speed of over 5200km/hr in about 2 and a half minutes, then flip about and return to the launch pad to be caught and set right down on the pad again for re-flight. This was only a block1 booster with block2 engines, so THIS particular engineering unit will likely never re-fly, but the point is that the whole scheme WILL WORK. The cost of placing things into space will never be the same again, the cost and speed of moving cargo and even people from any point on Earth to any other point on Earth will never be the same again. It will be YEARS before these consequences ripple through entire industries and before governments wrap their collective brains about this change. The giant SLS rocket is officially a dinosaur. Even Musk's own Falcon9 took a stride toward obsolescence today. Musk plans to place lunar starships and martian starships and tankers atop his super-heavy, but nothing stops him putting a version of starship as a fully-reusable 2nd stage on top with a third stage powered by J2X and hydrolox or even a nuclear engine for a very high energy third stage and putting even Werner Von Braun's never-built massive "Nova" rocket to shame.... and doing it for mostly the cost of fuel and a small ground crew, thanks to re-usability.

    The possibility of some future re-usable large first stage is no longer something aerospace engineers will spend endless hours debating over beers as they work for large firms whose management authoritatively asserts it can never be done.

    Tomorrow morning, a launch of some number of tons on a Facon9 or a Vulcan to a specific orbit will be no different than today. It will be years before Starship hauls non-NASA and non-Starlink payloads and thus years before people see price-to-orbit plummet - as it now inevitably will. Teams at SpaceX will continue the mountain of difficult engineering that lies before them; They need to advance Starship in three flavors just for short-term requirements (Lunar for NASA, tanker, and Mars in order to send some tests in the next Mars launch window) while improving SuperHeavy to make it "production-ready". We will soon see a flight test 6, and then 7, and the block2 starships will debut, and there will be arguments about whether lunar startship is ready for a 2026 or 2028 landing, etc. It will take YEARS for the consequences of today's test flight to become obvious... but today made all that INEVITABLE. It's no longer a question of "can we..." but rather "how soon will we...". It was a privilege to see it in real-time.

    My hat's off to every single person at SpaceX, including the janitors. Job well done. You've just altered the future of the human race in ways none of us can possibly yet grasp.

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