The world's largest and most powerful rocket, SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy, finally reached orbit on September 28. This is a huge step toward regular space flights, though the launch was quite tense. During the flight, one of six engines shut down. Officials even announced a launch cancellation. But just minutes later, a decision was made to continue the operation, and the rocket successfully entered orbit with the help of another engine. The main goal of this test was to reach orbit for the first time. Twenty-six new Starlink satellites were successfully deployed there.
The 124-meter-tall rocket can deliver more than 100 tons of cargo to Earth's orbit. It is designed for full reusability, which will help make space travel much cheaper. NASA has chosen this very system for its ambitious Artemis program. It aims to build a permanent base at the Moon's south pole within the next five years, and to send humans there as early as 2027.
At the start of the flight, which launched from South Texas, everything went according to plan. The Super Heavy booster made a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico after seven minutes. The rocket itself continued its ascent and about half an hour later reached low orbit, where it safely deployed the next-generation internet satellites. According to the initial plan, the rocket was supposed to stay in space for about 10 hours, but officials decided to significantly shorten that time. As a result, three hours after launch, it entered the atmosphere and successfully splashed down in the northern Pacific Ocean.
After hitting the water, it tipped over and exploded. There is still much work ahead, including the complex process of catching the rocket and booster on the launch pad with special mechanical arms. In addition, for long-duration flights to Mars, the rocket must be able to refuel directly in Earth's orbit.
This flight overcame a huge obstacle on the path to affordable and regular space travel. Until now, delivering cargo of this scale to space required astronomical sums, and now a fully reusable system is changing the rules of the game. This directly affects not only the expansion of private satellite networks, but also government programs for the exploration of the Moon.
In the coming months, attention will focus on tests of catching the rocket with the launch tower's mechanical arms. Without this complex, still unprecedented technical solution, rapid reusability will be impossible. Equally important is the development of orbital refueling technology, which is already one of the preconditions for the 2027 lunar landing.
