This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.
Ahead of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 5, Elon Musk was unsure whether the tower arms would successfully catch the Super Heavy booster during the test. SpaceX’s booster catch was one of the most important test objectives of the Starship program since it is vital to reusing the rocket booster for rapid flights. Before Flight 5, SpaceX had shared that it would carefully evaluate the booster’s systems during launch, and a manual go ahead would be given by the launch director before a catch attempt. The successful catch surprised many, including Musk, and it also paved the way for additional ambitious test objectives, such as catching the upper stage Starship spacecraft with the tower catch arms.
Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Will Attempt To Catch Upper Stage Starship Spacecraft With Tower Arms In Future Flights
In an X post made earlier this week, Musk shared that he believed that a successful Starship Super Heavy booster catch would take at least three flights. SpaceX had moved fast after Flight 4 in deciding that it would attempt to catch the booster with the tower arms, and Musk himself had announced the decision on social media.
Before Flight 5, in a presentation given to SpaceX employees in Texas, Musk had commented that “the odds of actually catching the booster with the tower are probably 80%, 90% this year.” In a strange twist of irony, the executive, whose optimism for his business ventures is often a source of intrigue and criticism, ended up being pessimistic as not only did SpaceX catch the booster with Flight 5 but also managed to do so on the first attempt.
In another post, Musk shared that he believed “it would take three attempts” before SpaceX would be able to catch the Super Heavy booster with the tower arms successfully. In another post, he also confirmed that SpaceX will catch the upper stage Starship spacecraft with the tower arms in the future. The first Starship upper stage tests had seen SpaceX attempt to land the rocket on its landing legs since this will be the ship’s profile for NASA’s lunar landing missions for the Artemis program.
However, for other missions, SpaceX is now aiming to catch the ship with the tower arm as well. This also raises questions about whether the ship will be caught by the same or a different tower, as SpaceX might have to refurbish the upper stage ship because of its heat shield.
According to Musk’s previous comments, SpaceX will at least conduct three successful water splashdowns before returning the upper stage ship to the launch pad. During a July talk, he shared that since “there’s some possibility of debris hitting, um, you know, damaging property or. . or people,” SpaceX would attempt “at least three successful landings of the ship” before it returned it to the launch site. This attempt could be hopefully next year according to Musk’s recent statements.