Quoted in Al Jazeera
After surviving re-entry, SpaceX’s Starship successfully completed their first full flight test.
SpaceX is working towards a goal of creating a reusable rocket system that will one day send people to Mars. NASA has contracted SpaceX to use versions of Starship.
There have been three attempts at flight tests. But all resulted in disintegration and explosion. But this fourth attempt got successful; quoted in Al Jazeera news
This success carries huge significance in achieving SpaceX’s goal.
The flight launched from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:50am local time (12:50 GMT). It soared to an altitude of 211 kilometers (130 miles), traveling at speeds over 26,000 km/h. The rocket remained intact enough to transmit data until it started its descent and landed in the Indian Ocean. It successfully survived re-entry and made a controlled fall just 65 minutes after launching from Texas.
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“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X, the social media platform.
“Today was a great day for humanity’s future as a spacefaring civilization!” he added. There was also a live broadcast showing the flight.
NASA praised this successful test flight and is ready to embark on its next step. They also emphasized the significance of this success for the Artemis program and future missions to Mars.
“Congratulations SpaceX on Starship’s successful test flight this morning!” NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote on X. “We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis — then looking onward to Mars.”
Now, the next aim of SpaceX is to develop a reusable orbital heat shield in order to achieve their goal. Although The U.S. is in a space race with China, who is also planning to send astronauts to Moon by 2030.
