Elon Musk has achieved a new accomplishment with his project SpaceX.
The company caught a booster rocket as it returned from a test flight. The unmanned “Starship rocket” launched on Sunday alongside a booster.
After launching into the sky, the booster broke away from the Starship. It descended on the launch pad where it was caught by the tower’s arms.
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Musk celebrated on his X account, stating, “The tower has caught the rocket! A big step towards making life multi-planetary was made today.”
The remainder of the ship orbited the earth before falling into the Indian Ocean as planned.
Background
The exploration of space has been very crucial in human lives, as most are curious about what the Galaxy and Milky Way hold.
Musk plans to achieve this by using his Starships to achieve transportation to and fro space, making it easier for both scientists and people who wish to go.
The “booster” is used to boost the rocket above into the sky and because it can come back safely, it has provided a new achievement for the human race.
Normally, when a rocket is launched, part of it falls off and gets lost, which means a new rocket has to be used every time people want to go to space. This is very costly and slows down space exploration.
This is specifically what SpaceX is trying to avoid: its project involves a rocket that can go to and fro as the booster can come back to the company to be reused, cutting costs and making travel faster.
A visionary Future
In 2025, SpaceX plans to send a crewed lunar orbit, and in 2026, it will make a moon landing.
If all things fall into place, we might be looking at casual travels to and fro space, where even commercial space travel could become a thing.
As SpaceX continues to refine reusable rockets and lower costs, there could indeed come a time when space travel becomes accessible to everyday people, not just astronauts or scientists.
We could see a future where people book a trip to space, perhaps for sightseeing, scientific exploration, or even vacations on the Moon or other planets.
What do you need to know?
This is the company’s fifth Starship launch, with previous ones taking place in June and September.
As of June 2024, SpaceX is worth around US$200 billion and is one of the first companies to reuse a booster.
Elon Musk and SpaceX have popularized the term “multi-planetary” with their vision of establishing a human colony on Mars. They aim to make humanity a “multi-planetary species.”
The goal is to reduce the risk of extinction by having humans spread across different planets. This ensures that life can continue in the face of potential disasters on Earth.