catches the Super Heavy rocket in flight during Starship’s final liftoff

The goal of the fifth flight of SpaceX’s Starship has been achieved. The rocket and spacecraft combination took off from the Boca Chica launch pad (Texas, United States) around 2:25 p.m. Spanish continental time and executed the mission as planned. On this occasion and for the first time in history, has been satisfactorily tested the propellant recovery system, called Mechazilla.

Mechazilla is a giant tower designed with two supports that act as a clamp to catch the Super Heavy propeller in flight. The latter, once completed its task of propelling the Starship into space, returns to dry land in a controlled manner with a restart that gradually slows down the structure.

On the previous flight, the fourth, the Super Heavy made the first controlled landing in its history, although it landed in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico so as not to put anyone in danger. As SpaceX commented this week, the booster experienced a deviation of half a centimeter from the exact location of arrival, valid data for taking the next step and entering the arms of the Mechazilla.

Musk’s company’s main goals for this fifth flight were “to attempt the first return to the launch site and capture of the Super Heavy rocket and another reentry and landing of [la nave espacial] Starship, with the aim of landing in the Indian Ocean,” they explain.

Before this fifth flight, SpaceX engineers made “significant updates” to both software of the material in the Super Heavy, in the Starship and in the infrastructure of the launch and capture tower – the famous Mechazilla – at the Boca Chica Stabase facilities.

“SpaceX engineers have spent years preparing and months of doing tests to try to capture the rocket“, and technicians have devoted tens of thousands of hours to building the infrastructure to maximize our chances of success,” emphasizes the company. “We accept no concessions when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and only return will be attempted if conditions are appropriate.”

Even before launch, the space company had stressed the need to fulfill “thousands of different criteria” for the mission’s flight director to continue the capture maneuver using the Mechazilla. The mission manager must execute a manual command to instruct the flight system to perform the recovery maneuver.

“If this command is not sent before the end of fuel consumption for the return boost, or if automatic health checks show unacceptable conditions with the Super Heavy or turret, the booster will default to a trajectory that will bring it to a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Another of the most important points of this controlled reentry maneuver at the SpaceX starbase in Boca Chica is the supersonic boom that was heard in the area. “In general, the only impact on people in the vicinity of a boom Sonic is a brief noise similar to thunder,” the company explains. Although variables such as weather and distance from the return location “determine the magnitude felt by observers.”