2:18 PM PT — No chopstick catch this time for SpaceX Starship … the Super Heavy booster did not make it back to the launch pad and instead splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX
A couple minutes into the mission, SpaceX announced a “no go” for the attempted booster catch.
Elon Musk is treating Donald Trump to quite the show … with SpaceX’s Starship megarocket blasting off into space and attempting to make another perfect landing back on the launch pad … and TMZ is streaming live.
The biggest rocket ever made is set to blast off Tuesday from the company’s Starbase launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas for Starship Flight 6 … in a test to see if both stages of the spacecraft — the Super Heavy booster and the Starship capsule — will return safely back to Earth … and Trump has a front-row seat.
One goal here … to have the Super Heavy booster essentially fly in reverse back to the launch pad … where it will be grabbed by the launch and catch tower’s “chopstick” arms … in one reusable piece.
Meanwhile, the Starship capsule — which is being sent into space by the Super Heavy booster and will be used to ferry astronauts to the moon and ultimately Mars — is also trying to make a successful controlled descent … in the Indian Ocean.
While orbiting the Earth, the Starship capsule will attempt to reignite one of its Raptor engines … a first for the mission.
Elon has polarized folks in this country with his involvement in American politics … backing Trump and then bringing the President-elect to Tuesday’s launch … but there’s no denying Musk runs a company with some pretty ingenious innovations.
NASA plans to use the Starship spacecraft for its Artemis missions to the moon, currently scheduled to happen in 2026.