As reported Digital lookLast week, the fourth test flight of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket was launched.
Live broadcast on all platforms Digital lookThe vehicle's first stage, the super-heavy propellant, could be seen making a smooth, controlled landing in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico a few minutes later — but our view at the time was limited to the camera on board the rocket.
Over the weekend, the company released a video on X (formerly Twitter) showing an outside perspective of the process.
Remember the fourth test flight of Starship
The 120-metre-high vehicle complex consisting of super-heavy propellant and the Starship spacecraft, which gave the group its name, lifted off on Thursday (6) from Starbase, SpaceX's launch facility in Boca Chica, South Texas, at 9:50. AM (Brasilia time).
The flight plan called for both stages to return to Earth for ocean landings. While the super-heavy rocket was expected to land in the Gulf of Mexico, the Starship spacecraft was targeting the Indian Ocean. They both managed to reach their respective milestones.
The rocket's first stage is powered by 33 Raptor engines, and the Starship's upper stage is powered by six engines. According to SpaceX, the vehicle is designed to be fully reusable and fly to destinations such as the Moon, Mars or beyond.
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SpaceX's giant rocket outperforms itself on every test flight
Over the past 14 months, two tests have been conducted last year and two this year. The missile's performance improved with each of these flights. In the first, for example, the two stages did not separate as planned, and SpaceX exploded the vehicle in the air about four minutes after launch.
The separation phase occurred on flight 2, but it was not completed perfectly, and ended after only eight minutes. The third flight lasted approximately 50 minutes, but neither the Super Heavy booster nor the Starship vehicle reached the planned dive areas, and both separated upon returning to Earth.
Combining recordings taken by a drone with images taken by cameras on board the Super Heavy, the video shows the roar of the booster's Raptor engines as it fires into a landing afterburner just above the waves.
From what you can see in the video, the Super Heavy is believed to have been almost unharmed physically at the end of the operation, which you can't say about the Starship. The upper stage was much higher, faster and farther than the other, so its re-entry was more fiery and complicated. I lost several heat shield tiles, for example, and one panel nearly burned due to frictional heating, but managed to hold on until it hit the water.
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