Starship 5 Splashdown: An important milestone for tower catch

On October 13, SpaceX accomplished an important milestone for Starship 5 spacecraft with a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This is a crucial milestone in Starship’s tower catch, which could come in 2025.

During flight 5, Starship performed a hot staging, and the booster returned to Earth. The second stage fired its six raptor engines to start the coasting phase over Earth.

SpaceX had a primary objective of catching the booster with the launch tower’s robotic arms. Everything went according to the plan and the company successfully captured the first stage as it exhausted the landing burn.

This was the first-ever recovery operation by any space company of such magnitude. Importantly, the first stage was unharmed except for some engine nozzles.

After completing this milestone, SpaceX focused on surviving the spacecraft through reentry and achieving a controlled soft landing in the ocean. This time, the spacecraft performed far better featuring new heat shield tiles with improved endurance to complete the long descent.

In the final minute, the second stage fired its engines to orient itself for the final burn and land vertically in the landing zone. Unlike Booster, the company had no clips for this landing until recently, when it published a showing of the spacecraft’s final burn.

Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SpaceX said Starship 5‘s soft landing in the ocean will pave the way for the ship to return to the launch site. Then, the company will attempt a Starship catch just like the booster.

SpaceX has completed the Starship 5 flight test within the scope of an application filed with the FAA. Therefore, Starship 6 is a pre-approved flight if SpaceX doesn’t make additional changes to launch objectives.