Starship's Fifth Flying Test Title, Super Heavy Successfully Arrested By SpaceX Giant Robot

SpaceX successfully launched Starship (photo: X @SpaceX)

JAKARTA SpaceX successfully launched Starship according to the set time. The spacecraft was flown on October 13 at 19.25 WIB from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.

In this fifth test flight, SpaceX tried to restore the Super Heavy booster by landing at the launch site. This target was achieved after the booster carried out a boostback and burning to land.

This driver was caught by Mechazilla, a tower in the form of a giant robot specifically designed to capture rockets or spacecraft. SpaceX revealed that Super Heavy was caught in one experiment.

"After successfully taking off, boarding, stage separation, burning the booster, and landing, the Super Heavy booster carried out the landing and was captured by the arm of the launch tower and capture," SpaceX said on its official website.

Although this achievement has been targeted previously, SpaceX's President, Gwynne Shotwell, admitted that he was surprised by this achievement. Meanwhile, SpaceX owner Elon Musk said that two Super Heavy launch targets had been achieved.

Timely License Grant

Before the Starship was launched, SpaceX argued with the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) over the issue of granting a license that wanted to be postponed. The agency wants to postpone granting flight permits until November because the results of Starship's failure analysis are not submitted on time.

SpaceX disagreed with the decision and made a statement that the FAA was hampering the Starship launch. According to the company, "This position is driven by false and misleading reporting."

On October 8, SpaceX revealed a launch window for its fifth Starship test flight even though the FAA had not yet granted a launch license. After waiting long enough, the FAA finally gave permission less than 24 hours before launch.

This license was released together with the results of environmental analysis. In the published license, the FAA concluded that, "There is no structural damage or significant impact on the anticipated third-party structure."