STORY: :: SpaceX successfully catches a rocket booster
at its launch pad in a novel engineering feat
:: October 13, 2024
:: Boca Chica, Texas
:: It’s the latest advance in the company’s push to
build a reusable moon and Mars vehicle
The rocket’s first stage “Super Heavy” booster lifted off at 7:25 a.m. CT (1225 GMT) from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas launch facilities, sending the Starship second stage rocket toward space before separating at an altitude of roughly 70 km (40 miles) to begin its return to land.
The novel catch-landing method is the latest advance in SpaceX’s test-to-failure development campaign for a fully reusable rocket designed to loft more cargo into orbit, ferry humans to the moon for NASA and eventually reach Mars – the ultimate destination envisioned by CEO Elon Musk.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday approved SpaceX’s launch license for the Starship test, following weeks of tension between the company and its regulator over the pace of launch approvals and fines related to SpaceX’s workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9.
