SpaceX is continuing to prepare for Starship Flight 5 in Texas as it waits for the FAA's approval, which should come by late November at the earliest. After testing the tower catch arms yesterday, the firm shared moments back that it had lifted the 232-foot-tall Super Heavy booster at the launch tower to simulate a catch attempt.
A tower catch is key for Starship's rapid reusability, and the booster lift is the first time that SpaceX has lifted the massive rocket to the full height required for a catch during a test.
SpaceX Moving Full Speed Ahead To Test Starship's Riskiest Flight Profile Element Before Flight 5
Footage from local media yesterday showed that SpaceX had lifted the tower arms to the catch height and run multiple tests to open and close them in order to prepare for Starship Flight 5. These tests have been going on sporadically since the fourth test flight earlier this year. They have seen SpaceX initially try to determine the distance the arms would have to cover during a quick closing to catch the booster by placing a smaller prototype at the tower.
Since then, the firm has focused its attention on testing rocket engines and the upper stage spacecraft for Starship Flight 6. As part of its Flight 5 preparations, SpaceX has also completely upgraded the ship's heat shield, which is made of thousands of tiles. Now, with nothing but time as its for the FAA's approval expected in March, the firm lifted the 232 feet tall Super Heavy booster to the top of the tower to simulate its position during a catch attempt in Starship Flight 5.
Looking closely at the images shared, it's clear that the inter stage booster ring is missing from the top of the Super Heavy. This is unsurprising since the Starship launch profile involves SpaceX jettisoning the booster ring into the ocean before the rocket prepares for a soft landing. The ring is a late addition to Starship's design, and one of the first upgrades after Flight 1 last year, which ended after the first and second Starship stages failed to separate from each other.
By lifting the booster to a catch height, SpaceX is able to verify its tower arm strength and clear them for flight operations. These arms are crucial to Starship's design as they are also responsible for stacking the ship on the booster pre flight. SpaceX's long term goal of rapid reusability for Starship envisions refurbishing the booster at the pad and then quickly stacking a ship on top to launch it again.
With the latest tower test complete, SpaceX might shift the second stage Starship to the pad and stack it on top of the booster. However, with an upgraded launch license necessary to approve the catch attempt and a different splashdown location for the catch ring, even if SpaceX were to stack the rockets, there is little additional progress that it can make if it wants to launch a test with the new profile.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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