SpaceX launches 5th Starship — with a catch

Starship’s previous four test flights occurred in April and November of 2023 and March and June of this year. This has been the most ambitious so far.

During the last test flight in June, both the booster and the main body of the rocket survived and landed in their designated splashdown zones — though the latter suffered heat damage.

Standing 121 meters tall, the giant Starship rocket is designed to fulfill SpaceX’s — and founder and CEO Elon Musk’s — ambition to send people and supplies to the moon and, eventually, to Mars.

Musk celebrated the event on X, saying it was a “big step towards making life multiplanetary.”