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SpaceX’s Starship rocket splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico after an aborted attempt to catch booster.
President-elect Donald Trump observed the test, highlighting Elon Musk’s growing influence over Nasa’s goals.
The uncrewed flight was the sixth test for Starship, crucial for missions to Mars and the Moon.
A SpaceX Starship rocket splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico today after the company aborted its second attempt to “catch” the returning booster at the launchpad.
The uncrewed launch was the sixth test flight for Starship, which is composed of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. With a much larger carrying capacity than any other launch vehicle, it is central to Elon Musk’s plans for a human mission to Mars and for Nasa’s planned return to the Moon.
The President-elect’s visit to the launch site came as Musk has become a key adviser to Trump, a position that could give Musk enormous influence over the direction of Nasa’s exploration goals —as well as the broader functions of the federal Government.
Today, after he boarded his plane on his way to the launch site, Trump gushed on his Truth Social network: “I’m heading to the great state of Texas to watch the launch of the largest object ever to be elevated, not only to space, but simply by lifting off the ground. Good luck to Elon Musk and the great patriots involved in this incredible project!”
US President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on November 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. Photo / Getty Images
But at the last moment, SpaceX engineers aborted the centrepiece of the test — the capture of the booster rocket at the launchpad after its return to Earth — and sent the booster into the Gulf of Mexico instead.
The booster fired its thrusters as it lowered downward into the gulf, sending a cloud upward around it before it toppled sideways into the water. Before the flight, SpaceX had said it would call off the landing attempt if any of the criteria meant to ensure a safe touchdown were not met. “We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and the return will only take place if conditions are right,” it said in a statement.
SpaceX aborted an attempt to catch the first stage booster of its Starship rocket in the "chopstick" arms of its launch tower, opting instead for an ocean splashdown. Photo / AFP
However, the company did succeed in relighting the spacecraft’s Raptor engine while in space — a first for the Starship system — which it sees as a critical capability for missions in orbit. The spacecraft then burned through the atmosphere and achieved a successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Musk’s close relationship with Trump has led to questions about how he would handle potential conflicts, given SpaceX’s status as the launch provider of choice for both Nasa and the Defence Department. SpaceX is managed day-to-day by President and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell, but Musk is the founder and chief executive.
Musk has repeatedly criticised regulatory agencies in public appearances and in social media posts over the years, recently suggesting the Federal Aviation Administration has been too slow to certify SpaceX launches. Tesla, the electric vehicle company he runs, has been subject to product recalls from transportation regulators over its semiautonomous driving system, and its customer base is enabled by federal tax credits. His smaller companies, such as Neuralink and the Boring Company, are also subject to Government oversight.
Musk and his companies have not responded to multiple requests for comment on how he would handle possible conflicts of interest.
Since he endorsed Trump after the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, the two men have grown close. Musk donated more than $118 million ($199.5m) to Trump’s White House bid and formed a super Pac that helped run Trump’s get-out-the-vote operation. And since the election, Musk has played a prominent role in the transition, including weighing in on Cabinet picks, such as Treasury Secretary, and sitting in on calls with foreign leaders.
Since winning the election, Trump has not spent much time in the public eye. He visited Washington last week to meet with President Joe Biden and address the House GOP conference. Over the weekend, he attended a UFC event at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Elon Musk donated more than $75 million to America PAC, which he co-founded with fellow Silicon Valley venture capitalists and tech businessmen to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Photo / Getty Images
Before the launch, Trump stopped at Mission Control, where he was accompanied by Donald Trump Jr., as well as Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tennessee). After the launch, Trump and Musk visited the “Starfactory” courtyard where rockets are assembled.
SpaceX has established its dominance with an unprecedented number of launches in recent years of its Falcon 9 rocket, and the company expects the Starship programme to help it stay ahead of its rivals. The immediate goal for today’s flight was not only to prove that the rocket can be safely lowered back to its landing tower, but also to show that SpaceX can pull off the manoeuvre repeatedly.
Nasa has been working to return astronauts to the Moon under a programme called Artemis, born during the first Trump administration. While Nasa has put SpaceX at the centre of those plans — Starship would ferry the astronauts to and from the lunar surface — Musk is also interested in pursuing missions to Mars, which many think may get a boost under the new White House.
Musk has said he plans to launch about five uncrewed Starship missions to Mars in the next two years, with possible crewed missions to follow two years after that. Nasa has invested at least US$4 billion in Starship.
But Artemis, which aims to explore the lunar south pole, has been delayed significantly because of problems with the heat shield of Nasa’s Orion spacecraft, which would fly astronauts to the vicinity of the Moon and back to Earth. And the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Nasa intends to use to hoist Orion to the Moon has for years suffered cost overruns and lengthy delays.
Unlike Starship, the SLS is thrown away after each use, and Nasa’s inspector general has said the cost of each flight could be more than US$2 billion. Meanwhile, China says it intends to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and eventually establish a moon base of its own.
For years, SpaceX has been landing its reusable Falcon 9 rocket on barges at sea or on a landing pad while the rocket’s second stage is discarded. Having Starship return to the launch site would allow it to be refuelled so it can fly again, allowing for cheaper launches, and more of them.
Shotwell said last week Starship eventually would replace SpaceX’s fleet of Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon spacecraft.
“Ultimately, people are going to want to fly on Starship,” she said. “It’s bigger, it’s more comfortable, it will be less expensive, and we will have flown it so many more times. We just passed 400 launches on Falcon, and I would not be surprised if we fly 400 Starship launches in the next four years.”
The risky landing manoeuvre called for lowering the 120-metre rocket down against a hulking metal landing tower, where it would settle on two converging “chopstick” arms as it powered off.
The company said it had made certain hardware upgrades after the fifth flight, adding redundancy to the rocket’s propulsion system and strengthening its structure at key areas. The company said it was also working to shorten the time it takes to remove fuel from the booster following a successful catch.
The Starship system is different from previous rockets in terms of its larger carrying capacity. It can carry up to 150 metric tonnes, according to SpaceX, or as many as 100 people at once. It could also be used to bring payloads back to Earth, a former executive said, opening up possibilities for satellite development and testing.
