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Ahead of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 5, Elon Musk was unsure whether the tower arm would successfully catch the Super Heavy booster during testing. SpaceX booster capture is one of the most important testing goals of the Starship program because it is critical to reusing rocket boosters for fast flights. Prior to Flight 5, SpaceX had communicated that it would carefully evaluate the booster system during launch, and guidance would be provided by the launch director prior to the arrest attempt. This capture success surprised many people, including Musk, and also paved the way for additional ambitious testing goals, such as capturing the upper stage of the Starship spacecraft with a capture tower.
Elon Musk Confirms SpaceX Will Attempt to Capture a Top-Tier Starship Spacecraft With Turret Weapons in Future Flights
In a post X made earlier this week, Musk shared that he believes successful capture of the Starship Super Heavy booster will require at least three flights. SpaceX had moved quickly after Flight 4 in deciding that it would try to capture the booster with a tower arm, and Musk himself had announced the decision on social media.
Before Flight 5, in a presentation given to SpaceX employees in Texas, Musk made these comments “The chance of catching a booster with a tower is probably 80%, 90% this year.” In a strange irony, the executive, whose optimism about his business ventures was often a source of intrigue and criticism, ultimately became pessimistic as SpaceX not only pursued a booster with Flight 5 but also succeeded in doing so in its first attempt.
In another post, Musk shared that he believes “it will take three tries” before SpaceX managed to capture a Super Heavy booster with a tower arm. In another post, he also confirmed that SpaceX will capture a Starship upper stage spacecraft with a tower arm in the future. The first Starship upper stage test has seen SpaceX attempt to land the rocket on a pad its landing because this will be the ship’s profile for NASA’s moon landing mission for the Artemis program.
However, for other missions, SpaceX now also aims to capture ships with tower arms. This also raises the question of whether the ship will be trapped by the same or different towers, as SpaceX may have to upgrade the ship’s upper stage due to its heat shield.
According to Musk’s previous comments, SpaceX will make at least three successful splashdowns before returning the upper stage ship to the launch pad. During a July talk, he shared that since “there’s a chance of debris hitting, um, you know, damaging property or. . or person,” SpaceX will try “at least three successful ship landings” before being returned to the launch site. This attempt is expected to be carried out next year according to Musk’s recent statement.
