Starship SN15 Survives Launch and Landing
takyon writes:
Upgraded Starship prototype makes soft landing after test flight
SpaceX launched and landed an upgraded prototype for the company's next-generation Starship vehicle in South Texas on Wednesday, the company's first Starship test flight since winning a $2.9 billion NASA contract to use the craft to land astronauts on the Moon.
Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO tweeted: "Starship landing nominal!"
The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) stainless steel rocket flew to an altitude of about 33,000 feet (10 kilometers) over SpaceX's rocket development and test facility in Cameron County, Texas, after lifting off at 6:24pm EDT (2224 GMT). Around six minutes after takeoff, the rocket landed vertically back at the same test site at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville.
Also at NASASpaceFlight, Space News, Ars Technica, Teslarati, CNBC, and The Washington Post[*]:
The successful test also served notice, coming as SpaceX finds itself under attack by the two competitors it beat out for the NASA contract: a team led by Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Jeff Bezos, and Dynetics, a defense contractor. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Both companies have protested the award with the Government Accountability Office, saying the process was flawed and that the space agency should have two providers in case one stumbles. They also are lobbying members of Congress and the space agency's leadership to add funding for another spacecraft that could move astronauts to and from the lunar surface.
[*] Alternate archive.is link.
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