[Photo credit to Pixabay]

On October 13th, SpaceX achieved a significant milestone by successfully catching their rocket Super Heavy as it returned back to its launch pad.

SpaceX had launched its fifth starship, progressing toward their goal of creating a reusable vehicle for Mars and moon missions.

The starship’s lift-off consisted of three main stages, which all took place within the span of just a few tens of minutes.

The first stage commenced at 7:25 am at Boca Chica, the Texas launch facility, where the starship’s ‘Super Heavy’ booster left the launch pad and ascended towards space. 

The second stage followed as the starship’s second stage rocket accelerated towards space before the separation of its pieces at an altitude of 70km. 

After the Starship reached its highest altitude, the booster slowed down towards the launch pad, safely falling into the launch pad’s two large metal arms.

This novel technological advancement is considered a major milestone as it was not only able to launch the starship successfully, but also bring the rocket back to its original take off location.

Additionally, the booster was able to land back in its launch pad without damaging the environment or the facility.

Many experts and company employees screamed with joy as they observed the starship returning back to the launch site through the livestream.

Kate Tice, a SpaceX engineering manager, enthusiastically exclaimed, “Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books.” 

This achievement is not only a landmark moment for SpaceX, but also a positive sign for NASA.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated that this amazing achievement ‘will determine the timing for the landing of Artemis 3 on the moon.’ In the near future, NASA can expect frequent and sustainable explorations in space such as exploring Mars. 

Despite the successful trial, which astonished the whole world with its new technology, it faced many issues when it was first introduced to the world.

Initially introduced in 2017, the Starship had faced many setbacks and technical challenges in its early stages.

However, the October’s test trial demonstrates SpaceX’s commitment to creating a reusable rocket that could further enhance society’s future transportation system when moving from one planet to another.

Rather than solely focusing on the negative aspects of the trials, after each test trial, SpaceX approached these failures as an opportunity to improve on its current design.

This event has caused many companies, especially ones that are hoping to utilize Starships, to feel hopeful about how they would be able to use them for transporting large payloads ‘like commercial space stations into low Earth orbit to commercial missions to the moon.’ 

Overall, this event has garnered widespread praise from experts and engineers in the field as they saw potential in the rocket’s ability to be used many times and thus lowering the production cost.

With this accomplishment, SpaceX moves closer to achieving the vision of sustainable and continuous space travel, unlocking new possibilities for human exploration in space.

As SpaceX conducts more trials, humanity may be getting one step closer to exploring space, opening doors to future opportunities.