SpaceX’s Starship rocket completes test flight for the first time, successfully splashes down

SpaceX’s Starship rocket completes test flight for the first time, successfully splashes down


SpaceX’s Starship launches its fourth flight test from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad, designed to eventually send astronauts to the moon and beyond, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. , in this handout picture obtained on June 6, 2024. 

Spacex | Via Reuters

SpaceX completed a test flight of its Starship rocket for the first time on Thursday, as the company pushed development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones.

“Our first ever ship landing burn after a launch into space … that was incredible,” SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the company’s broadcast.

Elon Musk’s company launched Starship at about 8:50 a.m. ET from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas.

The SpaceX Starship launches during its fourth flight test from Boca Chica beach on June 06, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. 

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

A few minutes after launch, the rocket’s booster successfully splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, a new milestone for its development. This was the first time SpaceX returned the booster in one piece — a controlled return of the booster is key to the company’s long-term goal of being able to launch and land Starship regularly, a practice it’s made routine with its Falcon 9 rockets.

About an hour after the launch, Starship visibly survived reentry through the Earth’s atmosphere, and the company confirmed that the rocket splashed down in the Indian Ocean to complete the mission. Starship appeared to withstand external damage during the intense heat of reentry, with debris apparent on the broadcast.

“Splashdown confirmed!” SpaceX posted on social media after the flight.

There were no people on board the fourth Starship spaceflight. The company’s leadership has previously emphasized that SpaceX expects to fly hundreds of Starship missions before the rocket launches with any crew.

The sun sets behind the SpaceX Starship ahead of its fourth flight test at Boca Chica beach on June 05, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. 

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

The Starship system is designed to be fully reusable and aims to become a new method of flying cargo and people beyond Earth. The rocket is also critical to NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon. SpaceX won a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of NASA’s Artemis moon program.

Shortly after the flight, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on its progress.

“We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through Artemis — then looking onward to Mars,” Nelson wrote in a social media post.

SpaceX has flown the full Starship rocket system on three spaceflight tests previously, with launches in April 2023, November and March. Each of the test flights has achieved more milestones than the last, but in each result prior to Thursday the rocket was destroyed before the flight’s end.

Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.

During the company’s third test flight SpaceX tested new capabilities including opening and closing the payload door once in space — which would be how the rocket deploys payloads such as satellites on future missions — and transferring fuel during the flight in a NASA demonstration.

SpaceX heavily emphasizes an approach of building “on what we’ve learned from previous flights” in its approach to develop Starship. The company says its strategy focuses on “recursive improvement” to the rocket, where even test flights with fiery outcomes represent progress toward its goal of a fully reusable rocket that can deliver people to the moon and Mars.

Musk last year said he expected the company to spend about $2 billion on Starship development in 2023.

The rocket

Why Starship is indispensable for the future of SpaceX

Starship is both the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched. Fully stacked on the Super Heavy booster, Starship stands 397 feet tall and is about 30 feet in diameter.

The Super Heavy booster, which stands 232 feet tall, is what begins the rocket’s journey to space. At its base are 33 Raptor engines, which together produce 16.7 million pounds of thrust – about double the 8.8 million pounds of thrust of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which launched for the first time in 2022.

Starship itself, at 165 feet tall, has six Raptor engines – three for use while in the Earth’s atmosphere and three for operating in the vacuum of space.

The rocket is powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The full system requires more than 10 million pounds of propellant for launch.



Source

Family offices ramp up deal-making in June with bets on biotech
Business

Family offices ramp up deal-making in June with bets on biotech

Key Points After a slow spring, investment firms of the ultra-rich made 60 direct investments in June, according to Fintrx. Family offices flocked to biotech and health-care firms such as Antheia, seeking to make an impact and returns at the same time. Antheia founder Christina Smolke told CNBC’s Inside Wealth family offices’ patient capital makes […]

Read More
How Netflix keeps luring big-name directors away from the traditional box office
Business

How Netflix keeps luring big-name directors away from the traditional box office

Film directors Rian Johnson (L), Greta Gerwig (C), and Guillermo Del Toro (R) Getty Images Netflix isn’t interested in bringing movies to theaters. The company’s leaders have said they see theatrical movie releases as an “outdated” model. Yet for more than a decade, the streamer has lured in some of Hollywood’s biggest directors to make content […]

Read More
Fast-casual restaurants lean on loyalty programs to offset consumer pullback
Business

Fast-casual restaurants lean on loyalty programs to offset consumer pullback

A customer exits a Cava restaurant in New York City on June 22, 2023. Brendan McDermid | Reuters As some consumers pull back on spending amid economic uncertainty, fast-casual restaurant chains are leaning on rewards programs to pull them back in. Loyalty programs, which offer discounts or added perks for returning customers, have transitioned from […]

Read More