SpaceX has successfully launched its fifth test flight of the Starship rocket on Sunday, marking a significant achievement with the dramatic capture of its massive booster. The “Super Heavy” booster, standing over 20 stories tall, was caught by SpaceX’s launch tower arms—an ambitious move that is key to making Starship a fully reusable rocket system.
Liftoff occurred at 8:25 a.m. ET from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. Seven minutes after launch, the booster returned to Earth and was caught by the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms, a feat SpaceX has been preparing for years. “What we just saw, that looked like magic,” remarked SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot during the live broadcast.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on social media, highlighting its role in the Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon.
After separation, Starship traveled halfway around the globe before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Indian Ocean, completing the test as planned. While there were no crew members on board, SpaceX aims to conduct hundreds of Starship missions before crewed flights.
This mission marks the fifth in a series of progressively successful spaceflight tests. Starship, the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built, is critical to NASA’s Artemis program. It stands at 397 feet when fully assembled with its Super Heavy booster, which generates 16.7 million pounds of thrust.
SpaceX sees the booster catch as a vital step toward making Starship fully reusable, with engineers and technicians dedicating countless hours to prepare for this landmark event.
