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SpaceX Starship Flight 6: No Booster Catch But Continues to Push the Envelope

Starship reignites one of its six Raptor engines on orbit for the first time, demonstrating a capability that will come into play during future missions.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 01:15 PM ET

Verified

Edited By: tccjeremy

SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster ignites its 33 Raptor engines to send the Starship rocket into orbit. [Courtesy: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX's Starship successfully reignited one of its Raptor engines in orbit during its sixth test flight, a critical capability for future missions.
This orbital engine relight is essential for NASA's Artemis III mission, where Starship will serve as the Human Landing System for returning astronauts to the Moon.
The Super Heavy booster's planned "chopstick" catch was aborted due to an automated health check, leading to a controlled splashdown, with SpaceX planning another water landing before reattempting the catch.
The flight gathered invaluable data, including heat shield performance and an aggressive reentry angle, advancing Starship's reusability, in-orbit refueling, and long-term goals for lunar and Mars exploration.

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While it did not recreate the historic Super Heavy booster catch it pulled off last time, SpaceX continued to push the envelope during the sixth test flight of its Starship spacecraft.

The largest and most powerful rocket ever built lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase launchpad in Texas on Tuesday evening, Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor engines creating a ball of flame in its wake. For the first time, Starship reignited one of its six Raptors in orbit, demonstrating a capability that NASA will need to return astronauts to the moon during the Artemis III lunar landing.

Jack Daleo

Jack is a staff writer covering advanced air mobility, including everything from drones to unmanned aircraft systems to space travel—and a whole lot more. He spent close to two years reporting on drone delivery for FreightWaves, covering the biggest news and developments in the space and connecting with industry executives and experts. Jack is also a basketball aficionado, a frequent traveler and a lover of all things logistics.