Connect with us

SpaceX

What happened to Starship Flight 10 booster after hot-staging?

Published

11 months ago

on

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy booster splashdown in the Gulf of America

SpaceX launched the Starship Flight 10 and cleared all of the milestones, but for the Super Heavy booster, what happened to this large space rocket after it completed hot-staging? Here’s what you should know.

The company conducted the hot-staging and performed a flip maneuver in a controlled direction before starting a boostback burn. This process is designed to save propellant in the landing phase and use it to improve performance and send more payload mass to orbit with future missions.

On its way back to Earth, the company decided not to attempt a tower catch; instead, the team tested a different engine configuration. One of the three center engines used for the final phase of landing was intentionally disabled to gather data to check the ability of a backup engine from the middle ring to complete a landing burn.

The booster then transitioned to only two center engines for the end of the landing burn, entering a full hover while still above the ocean surface, followed by shutdown and drop into the Gulf of America.

With this experiment completed, SpaceX could attempt to catch the booster once again with Starship Flight Test 11.

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy booster splashdown in the Gulf of America

SpaceX Starship Super Heavy booster splashdown in the Gulf of America

Related Topics:

Mannoo specializes in Generative AI, Large Language Model (LLM), and Aerospace Science. Prior to delving into these fields, he was a Python programmer, a game designer, and an Android and iOS app developer with over 5 years of experience. He has prior writing experience in creative writing about smartphones and technology before working at Eonmsk.com. You can explore his X/TWitter and LinkedIn pages or contact him through his email.

Continue Reading