SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, who also serves as the CEO and chief engineer, launched its fifth massive starship rocket this Sunday, October 13 in Texas. The rocket booster, which spanned 233 feet, made it back to its launch site a mere 7 minutes after takeoff, straight into the mechanical arms waiting for it, achieving unprecedented feats.
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The rocket's first-stage booster took off by 7:25 am (12:25 GMT) from the launch pad in Boca Chica, and returned to the same, as opposed to the usual floating ocean platforms.
The second-stage rocket will be space-bound for the Indian Ocean just west of Australia. There, the Starship will attempt to re-enter the atmosphere, following which, it will splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
The Starship towered over the Gulf of Mexico, not unlike the four that went before it, but were decimated in the process, either right after takeoff or before landing at sea.
The smaller Falcon 9 rockets, however, have been performing well, given that SpaceX has been successfully retrieving them for almost nine years. Musk took to X to share the good news:
"Ship landed precisely on target! Second of the two objectives achieved," he tweeted.
The internet was left in awe upon beholding dozens of the footage he uploaded online, with many lauding the billionaire for the feat, and lovingly christening the mechanical arms "chopsticks."
"No f***ing wayyyy!!! History is made," one user exclaimed.
Seemingly everyone echoed the same thing, with many lauding the usually contentious mogul.
"Epic moment! I remember the meeting where Elon said we’re not gonna have landing legs. We’re gonna catch the booster in the air, and we were all like what????" another commended.
"CONGRATULATIONS @SpaceX and @elonmusk on a SUCCESSFUL chopstick catch of the #Starship Booster!! This starts our future in Space!!! #ift5," yet another tweeted.
"Wow, that was incredible! Congratulations Team SpaceX!" artist Alan Walker wished.
"The best part about this video is the end when the entire SpaceX team is cheering and jumping up and down because they didn’t even know if it would actually work… Absolutely incredible!" one more commended.
Several others chimed in to congratulate the mogul.
"Incredible! The engineering behind this is mind-blowing. SpaceX has taken booster recovery to the next level. NASA used to drop boosters in the ocean for later recovery, and now we’re witnessing boosters being landed and caught mid-air. What a monumental achievement in space technology!" someone stated.
"No matter what you think about Elon, this is just incredible, give the man his due," another declared.
"I’m completely amazed by how incredible it was! It was absolutely stunning and truly legendary! Huge shoutout to SpaceX and a big bravo to Elon! @elonmusk," yet another said.
The rest of the internet was teeming with excitement, with many noting that the possibility of a life beyond our planet has now become a reality.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk reveals "making life multi-planetary" is underway
Musk continued, revealing that a "big step towards making life multi-planetary was made today." In a few follow-up posts, the mogul disclosed that things are "looking great."
"Just inspected the Starship booster, which the arms have now placed back in its launch mount. Looks great! A few outer engine nozzles are warped from heating & some other minor issues, but these are easily addressed. Starship is designed to achieve reflight of its rocket booster ultimately within an hour after liftoff. The booster returns within ~5 minutes, so the remaining time is reloading propellant and placing a ship on top of the booster.
Such a feat has propelled hopes for exploring space even further, as well as the possibility of life on another planet like Mars someday.
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