SpaceX is about to do something humans have never done before: the Starship’s 14th test flight—its first attempt to use the launch tower’s mechanical arm to catch the upper stage of a Starship that stands 52 meters tall in midair.
Previously, they had only caught the booster stages; this time, they’re clamping onto the “spacecraft” itself. On the same flight, they’ll also for the first time deploy an actual Starlink V3 satellite into orbit, with bandwidth ten times that of the current generation.
Musk says the heat shield problem is “already solved,” and he also says that at least once a day, Starship will fly after one year.
From a colossal rocket that burned through billions of dollars—“can blow up” to “can fly” to “can catch.” The next step is “can be reused.” The countdown to the retirement of Falcon 9 has already begun. Musk has said himself that once Starship is mature, they will gradually stop producing the Falcon series.
All that’s left is one FAA approval. By the day after tomorrow, you’ll be able to see humans for the first time in the sky using a mechanical arm to “catch a rocket.” 🧧🧧🧧
Previously, they had only caught the booster stages; this time, they’re clamping onto the “spacecraft” itself. On the same flight, they’ll also for the first time deploy an actual Starlink V3 satellite into orbit, with bandwidth ten times that of the current generation.
Musk says the heat shield problem is “already solved,” and he also says that at least once a day, Starship will fly after one year.
From a colossal rocket that burned through billions of dollars—“can blow up” to “can fly” to “can catch.” The next step is “can be reused.” The countdown to the retirement of Falcon 9 has already begun. Musk has said himself that once Starship is mature, they will gradually stop producing the Falcon series.
All that’s left is one FAA approval. By the day after tomorrow, you’ll be able to see humans for the first time in the sky using a mechanical arm to “catch a rocket.” 🧧🧧🧧
