SpaceX managed to achieve the technical accomplishment of retrieving the booster of its Starship rocket upon its return to Earth on Thursday. However, the upper stage of the rocket landed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Elon Musk’s company demonstrated impressive engineering skills by successfully recovering the SuperHeavy booster using mechanical arms on its launch tower, marking the second successful attempt since October.
The propeller successfully landed using its engines, earning applause from the team present at the company headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas. However, the celebration was short-lived.
The Starship spacecraft lost communication with the base, and SpaceX stated that it experienced an unexpected rapid breakup, a term used to describe an explosion. Flight Aware tracking displayed multiple planes changing course in the Atlantic near Turks and Caicos, and X users posted photos of potential wreckage from Starship during its descent through the atmosphere.
The latest and highest-altitude iteration of the biggest and most potent spacecraft ever constructed launched from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas at 16:37. Seven minutes later, the SuperHeavy booster decelerated from supersonic velocity and landed accurately in the mechanical grasp of the launch tower.
The descent and capture were successful in October but failed the next month due to the invitation extended to President-elect Donald Trump.
Today, SpaceX conducted the seventh trial of its mega rocket, while Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket had a successful first flight in Florida on the same day.