A prototype of a spacecraft that SpaceX plans to send to the moon one day, and Mars landed in one piece on a landing pad in southern Texas on Wednesday. It was the fifth high-altitude flight test by Starship, a vehicle that exploded in several previous test flights either during or after landing.
“We’re down, the spaceship landed,” said John Insprucker, a SpaceX engineer, during a live video stream of the SN15 launch.
Flames continued to emerge from the base of the missile after landing, due to the fuel consumed by the missile, Insprucker said. Shortly after SpaceX completed its official video feed, Elon Musk, the founder of the private space company, wrote a tweet describing the landing as a success in rocket science jargon:
A future model of the vehicle is central to Mr. Musk’s goal of one day taking people far beyond orbit. NASA recently placed an order with SpaceX to build a version of Starship that will bring astronauts to the surface of the moon later this decade.
In four previous tests conducted since December, the missiles launched successfully and exhibited controlled belly flops back to the ground after reaching an altitude of several miles. But each time, problems during the landing or after the missile touchdown led to spectacular explosions.
Wednesday’s flight was free of such excitement. The vehicle, powered by its three engines, sped into the cloudy sky over Boca Chica next to the Gulf of Mexico. It traveled to an altitude of about six miles for four minutes, turned off engines, and hovered for a while before beginning its journey back to the surface of the earth.
While returning to the landing site, it turned into a horizontal orientation to begin its descent. As it neared the surface, it reactivated its engines and brought itself back into a vertical orientation, slowing its approach to the ground in a cloud of smoke. When the steam cleared, the spaceship stood upright and the springs continued to vent from its sides.
SpaceX takes a fail-safe and fastest possible approach. The tests are used to identify design flaws and make adjustments on subsequent flights. An announcement from NASA last month is sure to draw more attention to Starship’s advances and setbacks.
A few weeks ago, NASA placed a $ 2.9 billion contract with SpaceX to use Starship to bring astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface. The contract is part of the Artemis program, and NASA was expected to select more than one company to build a lunar lander. This reflects the approach the space agency has taken in hiring companies to move cargo and now astronauts to the International Space Station.
Following the announcement, NASA’s decision was challenged by the other two companies vying for the contract: Blue Origin, the private company founded by Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive officer; and Dynetics, a defense company in Huntsville, Ala. NASA has now ordered SpaceX to cease work on the lunar spacecraft until the Government Accountability Office makes a decision on the protests. The challenge does not affect SpaceX’s work on the Starship models that are currently being tested in Texas.
Mr. Musk’s company has become successful in the start-up business and is now one of the most valuable private companies in the world. Its Falcon 9 rockets have become a dominant workhorse for launching satellites into orbit. It routinely transports cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station. Last month she took four astronauts to the space station for NASA and later on Saturday brought another crew home in a nightly splashdown.
However, many are skeptical of Mr. Musk’s claim that the company is only a few years away from sending a spaceship to Mars, and note that he has repeatedly set schedules for SpaceX that have proven far too optimistic.
When he released an update on Starship’s development in 2019, he said that an altitude test would take place within months and that orbital flights could take place in early 2020.
Instead, several catastrophic failures occurred due to faulty welding. When the fuel tanks stopped bursting, two of the prototypes made short successful flights last year. These earlier Starship prototypes resembled spray paint cans with the labels removed and soared nearly 500 feet on a single rocket engine before being returned to the test site in Texas.
Despite being lifted from the ground many times, Starship is still a long way from being ready for a trip into orbit. But SpaceX already has future tests in mind that will send subsequent Starship prototypes to much greater heights. In March, Mr. Musk shared a picture of a prototype of the large booster stage needed for a trip into space. It’s over 200 feet tall.
This prototype won’t fly on its own, but Mr Musk said the company’s goal is to have a second model on the market by July.
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