Starship 5 gets Mechazilla decal, ready for booster recovery

SpaceX has painted a Mechazilla decal on Starship 30 ahead of Flight 5 indicating that the company is ready to catch the booster on the tower.

With flight 4, SpaceX has achieved smoother hot-staging than previous missions. The booster has landed in the targeted zone following a landing burn. The data achieved with this flight helped the company to try new maneuvers. Unfortunately, the company won’t be recovering the upper stage.

The rocket maker has officially announced that Starship Flight 5 is ready to launch and it’s awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). However, the agency has yet to share any update on this matter.

A video posted on social media site X showed SpaceX engineers painting a Mechazilla on top of the “S30” serial number on the second stage. Mechazilla or launch tower consists of two robotic arms that can open, close, and move vertically based on the requirements.

SpaceX Super Heavy Landing on the launch tower (Source – SpaceX)

The company has designed the tower to catch the first stage following a landing burn. Starship’s first stage equips 33 Raptor engines to lift the integrated flight in the air and take it to the upper atmosphere. Following hot staging, the booster will cut off from the spacecraft to continue the mission.

After flipping backward, the first stage will maintain its landing zone trajectory and return to Starbase. There, it will perform a final burn before Mechazilla plucks it in mid-air.

This will be the first time, SpaceX attempt to catch Starship’s booster, and achieving this milestone will be critical to do the same with the spacecraft in future missions.

(source – Starshipgazer/X)