October 13, 2024 17:02October 13, 2024 20:48
Starship is the largest rocket system ever built.Image: trapezoid
The largest rocket system in space history has successfully completed its fifth test flight. Live images showed the unmanned starship lifting off from the spaceport of tech billionaire Elon Musk's private space company SpaceX in Texas on Sunday.
About an hour later, it made a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean as planned and flew at high altitude. In addition, this test was the first attempt to land a rocket lower stage directly on a launch tower in Texas, and this time it was also successful.
“Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the exciting fifth test flight of Starship,” Musk wrote on X, an online platform he also owns, in SpaceX's official X profile.
European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschenbacher also congratulated Platform X. SpaceX’s commitment and innovation in space research is inspiring to everyone.
German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst writes that a huge milestone has been reached and the next phase of lunar exploration can begin: “Goal: Artemis astronauts, including us Europeans, will fly with Orion The spacecraft travels with its European propulsion module from Earth to the Gateway space station in lunar orbit, from where the crew will transfer to a Starship spacecraft to land on the lunar surface.
A big step towards the future! a huge milestone @SpaceX on the way there #mond and succeed in doing so #artemis-The program comes from @NASA, @ESA and international partners.
Goal: Artemis astronauts, including us Europeans, will use… https://t.co/rwJEgIvPQu— Alexander Guest (@Astro_Alex) October 13, 2024
Previous tests have had varying success rates
During the first test in April 2023, the entire rocket system exploded within minutes. In the second test in November 2023, the two-stage rocket separated and the upper stage continued to fly, but the two stages exploded shortly after.
In the third test in March, Starship entered space for the first time, but it also failed to complete the flight as expected. During its fourth test flight in June, Starship made its first controlled landing, but it didn't go as expected. SpaceX has always emphasized that the purpose of the test is to collect data.
One day go to the moon and Mars
Consisting of an approximately 70-meter-long “Super Heavy” booster and an approximately 50-meter-long upper stage (also known as a “Starship”), the Starship is designed to enable manned missions to the moon and Mars. The system is designed so that spacecraft and rockets can be reused after returning to Earth.
The system has a total length of approximately 120 meters and will be able to transport more than 100 tons of cargo in the future. NASA hopes to use Starship to send astronauts to the moon. SpaceX hopes to one day take the system to Mars. (Sudanese Development Authority/Department of Political Affairs)
You may also be interested in:
On October 9, 1874, the Universal Postal Union was established in Bern, laying the foundation for modern communications. Today, it has enabled the global exchange of letters and parcels and has become the cornerstone of global postal transportation.
On October 9, 1874, delegates to the International Postal Congress held their last meeting in the magnificent Imperial Hall of Bern's town hall and signed the establishment of the Universal Postal Union. For the second time since the founding of the Telegraph Union, Swiss foreign policy achieved the most politically striking step of establishing an international organization in Bern. Switzerland should once again – and not for the last time – become the “depositary” of international treaties and take over the overall supervision of the International Office.
