SpaceX Successfully Finished 5th Starship Test Flight

SpaceX, a space navigation and rocket design company run by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has been working on their famous Starships in hope to bring humans back to the moon, and to one day, bring them to Mars. Space exploration has been the final frontier of mankind since the Kennedy administration, and SpaceX has been one of the most prominent leaders of this industry since 2002. The Starship program started with its first flight August 27, 2019, titled “Hoppy”. In light of this endeavor, Elon Musk has been trying to create rockets that would land back on the Earth after going into space. This would dramatically change the space industry, cutting the cost of space travel into fractions of what it is now. 

On October 13, 2024, SpaceX sent up their fifth Starship test flight, and in light of their previous launches, all fingers were crossed. In complete shock, SpaceX staff watched as they narrowly and very finely landed their rocket by catching it in the arms of a tower with a height of around 480 feet, making their goal of having a fully reusable rocket possible and a reality. “What we just saw, that looked like magic,” said Dan Huot, a SpaceX communications administrator.

SpaceX continues to this day to create more reusable rockets, until we can comfortably entrust SpaceX to take astronauts into space and back with minimum expenses of both property value and human life. With this incredulous milestone, the possibility of the United States returning to the moon, or even stepping foot on Mars, Earth’s neighboring planet, seems more possible than ever.

Photo credit: SpaceX