DNVN - On October 13, the American SpaceX corporation, founded by Elon Musk, reached an important milestone in the development of reusable rockets. For the first time in history, SpaceX successfully "captured" the Super Heavy rocket, the first stage of the Starship complex, when this stage returned to the launch pad during a test that took place on the same day.
The SpaceX Corporation logo at the entrance to the Brownsville Space Center in Texas (USA). Photo: Reuters/TTXVN
According to live footage from the test in Texas, the Super Heavy rocket was launched with the Starship spacecraft and returned to the launch pad under complete control a few minutes later. The rocket was caught by the "Mechazilla" system - a pair of giant mechanical arms from the launch tower - and landed safely. A SpaceX spokesperson confirmed that this was a historic moment in engineering, when the launch tower "captured" the rocket accurately.
The test launch took place at 7:25 a.m. on October 13 (US time), or 7:25 p.m. Vietnam time, in clear weather conditions. While the lower stage of the rocket returned to the launch pad, the upper stage of Starship is expected to land in the Indian Ocean about an hour later.
SpaceX revealed that its engineers spent years of preparation and months of testing to perfect the technology to catch the booster. The team of technicians spent tens of thousands of hours building the infrastructure to maximize the chance of success. SpaceX's goal is to get the Super Heavy booster back to the launch pad by any means necessary, and if it fails to "catch" successfully, it will be diverted to land in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.
The Starship complex is 121 meters tall and consists of two combined stages. The first stage is the Super Heavy rocket, about 70 meters tall, creating a thrust of 74.3 Meganewtons, twice as strong as the Saturn V rocket of the Apollo missions. The second stage is the Starship spacecraft, the model that billionaire Elon Musk hopes will take humans to Mars in the future.
NASA is eagerly awaiting an improved version of Starship to serve as a landing vehicle for manned missions to the Moon under the Artemis program, scheduled for later this decade. SpaceX successfully landed the Starship spacecraft safely in a test in June.
Viet Anh (t/h)
Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/cong-nghe/spacex-cua-elon-musk-lap-ky-tich-voi-ten-lua-day-tai-su-dung/20241014083843413
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