SpaceX carried out last Tuesday the sixth test flight of Starshipthe largest (121 meters) and most powerful rocket that has been built so far. The flight was an almost total success: it managed to meet the mission objectives, but did not repeat the impressive moment experienced on the fifth flight, in which the Super Heavy booster landed on the launch tower in a controlled manner and was held by the two huge metal arms of the system known as Mechazilla.
Among the objectives achieved in the sixth flight is having maneuvered the second stage, the Starship capsule, into spaceand having repeated a controlled landing at sea, both with Super Heavy and Starship. To carry out the maneuver, Starship restarted one of its six engines Abductor for a brief combustion and to be able to make a slight adjustment to its flight path. The combustion lasted only a few seconds, and the boost was small, just a speed change of 77 km/h, but demonstrated that the ship can be safely deorbited on future missions.
Now, why didn’t Super Heavy return to the launch base, Starbase, as he did on October 13? On that fifth test flight, SpaceX had already warned that, before deciding on the landing maneuver, a multitude of checks would be carried out on the launch tower and Super Heavy and that, if they detected inappropriate conditions, they would not attempt it. That’s what happened this week on the sixth flight.
SpaceX did not explain the reasons why Super Heavy landed in the Gulf of Mexico instead of in starbasein Texas. However, Elon Musk Yes, he has done it in an X thread started by a comment from the tycoon about the video game Diablo IV. When asked by a user why no attempt was made to capture the propellant again, Musk responded that the problem came from the launch tower.
Lost comms to the launch tower computer. Catch would probably still have worked, but we weren’t sure, so erred on the side of caution.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2024
‘Communication with the launch tower computer was lost. The capture probably would have worked anyway, but we weren’t sure, so we opted for caution.’Musk noted. It should be noted that, for SpaceX, a failed landing in which the launch tower was also damaged would be much more costly than losing the Super Heavy at sea. Not only economically, but also reputationally. SpaceX made the decision 4 minutes after Starship’s launch.