Image caption,Starship blasted out of the Earth’s atmosphere before the booster separated
When the flight director gave the go-ahead, cheers went up from SpaceX employees at mission control.
The company had said that thousands of criteria had to be met for the attempt to be made.
As the Super Heavy booster re-entered the atmosphere it slowed down from speeds in excess of a few thousands miles per hour.
When it approached the landing tower, which stands 146m-high (480ft), its raptor engines worked to control its landing. It seemed to almost float, orange flames engulfed the booster and it deftly slotted into the giant mechanical arms.
SpaceX’s Starship lifts off during its fifth flight test, in Boca Chica, Texas
Image source,Reuters
Image caption,Starship lifted off from its launchpad in Texas for its fifth test flight at sunrise local time
The Ship part of the rocket, which is where equipment and crew will eventually be held for future missions, fired up its own engines after separating from the booster.
It was successfully landed in the Indian Ocean around forty minutes later.
“Ship landed precisely on target! Second of the two objectives achieved”, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X.
Not only was the Ship landed accurately but SpaceX also managed to preserve some of the vehicle’s hardware, which it had not expected
