SpaceX Starship breaks down after successful booster landing
SpaceX Super Heavy booster successfully returns to its landing pad earlier today. Sam Allen/ Pulse
During its seventh test flight at its Boca Chica site, SpaceX’s Starship successfully caught its Super Heavy booster, but lost its spacecraft during its ascent burn, according to the company.
One purpose of today’s test flight was to catch the returning initial booster known as Super Heavy for a second time after having successfully done so in October.
The 33-engine-initial-stage booster returned to the launch pad about seven minutes after blastoff and was successfully caught by the two arms of the launch tower.
Hundreds of spectators at Isla Blanca Park in South Padre Island reacted with cheers upon the Super Heavy rocket’s successful landing.
Eduardo Montemayor, a resident of Belize who came to Isla Blanca for the launch, called today’s success “history in the making.”
“It looked so much more beautiful than I thought, like a star in the day,” Montemayor said.
Brownsville resident Mia Deden also watched the launch from Isla Blanca Park.
“It was breathtaking,” Deden said. “Definitely not something you see every day. I never thought I’d get to experience something like this here in the Valley.”
The successful launch follows the FAA’s release of its revised environmental assessment and two public meetings seeking local opinion on an expansion of SpaceX operations out of Boca Chica’s Starbase.
Despite the elation of today’s launch, some organizations, such as the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, oppose an expansion of SpaceX operations out of Boca Chica.
Max Meyer, an Austin resident who has seen most of SpaceX rocket launches, was at Isla Blanca Park to witness today’s launch and said some of the environmental regulations are “overrated.”
“We should continue to do great things and not protecting tiny little fish,” Meyer said.
