The gigantic Starship spacecraft successfully landed this Thursday, June 6, in the Indian Ocean. “ An epic feat », Greeted its owner, billionaire Elon Musk and director of SpaceX. The three previous tests had in fact ended in explosions. A success which further opens the way to the colonization of other planets.
1 min
“ This is one more step towards humanity’s return to the Moon » reacted Bill Nelson, the director of NASA, after this successful test. The Starship spacecraft must be used, from 2026, to transport astronauts from the American Space Agency to the Moon, during the Artemis mission.
It is also the instrument that should allow the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, to achieve his ultimate goal by establishing an autonomous colony on Mars in order to make humanity a multi-planetary species. For the moment, there is still a little way to go.
Today was a great day for humanity’s future as a spacefaring civilization!
Nothing unites us more than working together towards inspiring objectives.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2024
The 120 meter high rocket, which should eventually be completely reusable, consists of two parts: a propulsion stage and, above it, the Starship spacecraft.
This Thursday, June 6, a few minutes after takeoff, the booster landed in the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft continued in space for an hour before re-entering the atmosphere at 25,000 km/h.
A few tiles flew off and a fin was damaged, but despite everything, Starship landed safely. A next test should take place soon.
Also listenStarship rocket: “With SpaceX, Elon Musk does what he says, but never on the announced schedule”