SpaceX Successfully Launches Starship Super Heavy from Boca Chica, Attempts Booster Catch

On Tuesday, November 19, 2024, SpaceX successfully launched its Starship Super Heavy rocket from Starbase at Boca Chica Beach in southern Texas. This launch marked the sixth test flight of the fully integrated Starship rocket and the fourth such launch in 2024.

The mission, known as Flight 6, involved a suborbital flight where the nearly 400-foot-tall vehicle was launched from Pad 1 at Starbase. The launch was part of a series of tests following three recent Falcon 9 rocket launches by SpaceX within a span of less than 20 hours.

During the launch, SpaceX attempted to catch the Super Heavy booster using its ‘Mechazilla‘ tower, a feat that was previously successful during Flight 5 on October 13. However, the company called off the second attempt at catching the booster, opting instead for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico due to safety protocols.

President-elect Donald Trump was in attendance at Boca Chica Beach to witness the launch, adding to the significance of the event.

The Starship upper stage, tail number S31, achieved near orbital velocity and will attempt to relight one of its three Raptor vacuum engines during the flight. This capability is crucial for demonstrating Starship’s ability to perform a deorbit burn after future orbital missions, preventing it from becoming space junk. The upper stage is expected to perform a soft water landing in the Indian Ocean.

NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik expressed the importance of this mission, highlighting that the ability to catch and refurbish the Super Heavy boosters is key to achieving the goals of the Human Landing System component of the Artemis program, for which Starship is designed to be the lander).