The Starship rocket flew into space 6 times: there was a banana on board, and not everything went according to plan (video)

Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! The most powerful Starship rocket, created by Ilona SpaceX, has a height of 122 meters. It consists of two parts: the Super Heavy rocket launcher and the Starship spaceship or just Ship. During the last fifth test flight, the multiple Super Heavy rocket launcher not only returned to the ground after launching, but it was also able to catch the starting tower in a spaceport with its manipulators.

With this tower, Starhip goes into space. This time, SpaceX hoped to repeat this feat, but it did not work. Therefore, Super Heavy was driven during a controlled descent in the Gulf of Mexico 7 minutes after launching. But the main purpose of the new test was to check the performance of the Ship Ships 50 meters high. This time, as during the past test flight, the ship went to a semi -orbiting trajectory to drive to the Indian Ocean.

The ship was able to survive the descent into the Earth's atmosphere, launched 3 out of 6 of its engines, swept into a vertical position and fell into the water in the Indian Ocean 65. 5 minutes after the start. This time there was a payload for the first time on board Ships: a plush banana, which served as an indicator of weightlessness, although the ship did not fly into the real space.

The new flight has shown that SHIP can perform the maneuvers necessary for safe return to the ground during flights in orbit. Like Super Heavy, the Ship ship is reusable, and SpaceX hopes that during future trials can be made so that it can catch the starting tower with its manipulators. The new flight of the Ship ship has made it possible to check the stability of the modified thermal protection screen, which protects the top of the Starship while entering the Earth's atmosphere.

SpaceX has created a Starship rocket so that it can be used to deliver people and cargoes a month and Mars, as well as to perform flights to the Earth orbit. If everything goes according to the plan, one of the versions of Starship for the first time in over 50 years will deliver NASA astronauts to the surface of the moon in 2026. In this case, the Starship will be a landing monthly module. In the same year, SpaceX intends to send Starship to Mars for the first time, but without a crew.

In order for all Ilon Mask's plans to come true, it is necessary to put into operation as soon as possible the Starship rocket, but it will still have to perform a few more test flights in the near future. According to Focus, the new Starship rocket, together with Ilon Musk, watched the selected 47th US President Donald Trump, who is actively supported by SpaceX owner. Focus also wrote that physicists offered a new theory of the origin of dark matter.