13/10/2024 - The day spaceflight changed forever

Super Heavy caught by Mechazilla (SpaceX)

For years man has dreamed of the stars thinking of a future where we are with them, today is a monumental step towards that goal.

What on earth just happened?

To be frank, I couldn’t tell you either. What I’ve just witnessed is pure magic. Any sufficiently advanced technology is magic.

Super Heavy has just been caught by Mechazilla as of writing this. I’m not sure how to describe what I’m feeling. I’m feeling an immense pride in our future for humanity.

For so long we have been throwing away boosters, and going to orbit for tens of millions of dollars. Today is a major step towards cheap orbital flights.

What does this mean?

Reusability has always been the golden goose of rocketry. But it has never been obtainable due to the immense resources needed. Falcon 9 became the first and only orbital class rocket to recover its booster after flight. This savings in cost has already become apparent in their Starlink flights.

Falcon Heavy boosters landing (SpaceX) 

But Super Heavy is a huge leap from Falcon 9. At 70m tall Superheavy is as tall as an entire falcon 9. It lofts Starship a 50m tall spaceship into orbit. The reason this is so incredibly important is because Starship is a reusable second stage. No longer will we be throwing away rocket stages. Starship is a fully reusable system.

Starship ahead of launch

The future

As of writing this, Starship is coasting and will be re-entering soon

This day, will be day our kids ask us about saying “Do you remember when SpaceX caught the Superheavy booster?”

Its a mark of a new sci-fi world in where we will be able to do interplanetary missions, benefit our world back at home, send hundreds of satellites out to explore our solar system.

I can’t wait for what the next few years has in store. Thanks for reading.