SpaceX Makes Historic Launch, Returns Super Heavy to Launch Pad

On October 13, for the first time in history, the American private company SpaceX was able to return the first stage of the super-heavy rocket (5 thousand tons) Starship Super Heavy to the launch pad using the Mechazilla system. Now it, like the booster blocks of other SpaceX launch vehicles, can be reused, possibly multiple times (10 or more times).

The test launch, designated Starship Flight 5, took place at 8:25 a.m. ET (12:25 p.m. GMT) from Starbase, a launch site and manufacturing facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Elon Musk's company showed off its success in a short video.


The footage shows the planned activation of the engines and separation of the Starship from the Super Heavy booster, which begins to return to the cosmodrome. This was the fifth test launch of the Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle, which is currently the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in the world. SpaceX's main task was to launch Starship and return the ship to the atmosphere for splashdown in the Indian Ocean. But the company decided to try to return the first stage to the launch pad. Super Heavy was caught using a special design that is designed to reduce the launch vehicle turnaround time.

SpaceX said in a statement that its engineers had spent years preparing and months testing the attempt to capture the booster by the complex's structure, and equipment spent tens of thousands of hours building the infrastructure to maximize our chances of a positive outcome. The fully assembled Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle is the tallest on the planet at nearly 122 meters. The first stage of the Super Heavy has 33 Raptor power units, and the Starship (50 meters tall) has another 6.