Trump joins Musk for SpaceX's sixth starship test flight, booster recovery unsuccessful
According to a report by CNN, SpaceX conducted the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket on Nov. 19 in Texas. Donald Trump was present to witness the launch in person. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also attended the event. US media pointed out that this highlights the increasingly close relationship between Trump and Musk.
The Associated Press reported that the rocket was launched at 5 p.m. local time. However, the giant mechanical arms could not capture the booster as planned. Due to unknown reasons, the booster recovery was aborted just four minutes after the test flight began. The booster fell into the Gulf of Mexico three minutes later, while the rocket followed its planned descent into the Indian Ocean.
A SpaceX spokesperson explained that the flight director did not command the booster to return to the launch site because all necessary conditions for recovery were not met, but did not provide further details.
In a previous report, on Oct. 13 local time, SpaceX conducted its fifth Starship test flight in Texas. At the time, SpaceX successfully caught the returning Super Heavy booster using the launch tower's mechanical arms.
The Starship rocket has a total height of approximately 120 meters and a diameter of around 9 meters. It consists of two stages: the first stage is the roughly 70-meter-tall Super Heavy booster, and the second stage is the Starship spacecraft itself. Both stages are designed to be reusable.
Starship aims to transport humans and cargo to Earth's orbit, the Moon, and even Mars.
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