SpaceX’s Starship has lifted off successfully on its fifth test flight from a launch pad in Texas.
The launch featured the company’s first attempt at bringing the rocket’s towering first stage booster back to land using huge robotic arms.
The Starship spacecraft and its Super Heavy rocket are designed to carry crew and cargo to the moon and beyond – and be reusable.
On this latest test flight, the Super Heavy booster returned to Boca Chica on the border with Mexico, where the launch tower “caught” it using what are described as “chopsticks”.
The “chopsticks” arguably look more like metal arms, or giant pincers. There is a video demonstration in the tweet below.
The Starship will land in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the launch only yesterday, weeks earlier than expected.
Previously, the FAA said a decision on Starship 5 was not expected until late November.
But it said Elon Musk’s company had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight”.
It has also approved the Starship 6 mission profile.
Musk has heavily criticised the FAA – partly over the delay in approving the licence for Starship 5, which SpaceX said was ready in August.
SpaceX describes Starship as the world’s “most powerful launch vehicle ever developed”, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes.
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