SpaceX made history on June 6, 2024, with the successful completion of the fourth test flight for its Starship rocket. The event marked a significant milestone in SpaceX's ambitious plans to send humans to Mars and reduce the cost of space travel.
The Starship rocket, which is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable like an aeroplane, took off from SpaceX's launchpad in South Texas at 7:50 a.m. ET.
After separating from the upper stage, the booster returned to Earth and made a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, the second-stage spacecraft continued its journey around the world and eventually made a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
The successful test flight was hailed as a major achievement by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has long expressed his vision of colonizing Mars with humans.
SpaceX's Starship is intended to be the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, capable of carrying more than a hundred tonnes to orbit in one go. The company's break-it-then-fix-it approach to engineering has allowed it to make steady progress since the first test launch in April 2023, despite some technical hurdles.
Daniel L. Dumbacher, executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, noted SpaceX's team's capability to make rapid progress and learn from past assumptions.
The successful test flight also sets the company up to make further progress towards its goal of sending humans to Mars. Starship will also assist in Elon Musk's Starlink project, which is establishing a global network of broadband internet satellites.
NASA has scheduled late 2026 for when it would like to see boots back on the lunar surface, and a version of Starship could act as the landing craft for astronauts. However, SpaceX will first have to show that it can produce a safe and reliable vehicle before astronauts are permitted to climb aboard.
The fourth test flight was not flawless, but the successes offer optimism that Musk can pull off his vision of a rocket that is both the biggest and most powerful ever and yet entirely reusable.