SpaceX’s latest Starship rocket launched successfully from Boca Chica, Texas, on Nov. 19, but the aerospace company was unable to return the craft’s booster to the launchpad after doing so for the first time in October.
The launch was Starship’s sixth test flight, taking off from SpaceX’s Texas launch facilities at 5 p.m. ET. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, detailed the objectives for Starship Flight 6 in a post on X.
The company hoped to restart the rocket’s Raptor engines in a vacuum, land the ship during daylight hours, conduct higher peak heating and steeper reentry of the rocket, and undergo a faster and harder booster catch by the launchpad’s mechanical arms….