The next flight of SpaceX’s Starship could mark a new milestone, according to a teaser in a highlight video from the rocket’s fourth flight.
SpaceX posted the video to X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday (July 4), which features a montage of milestones from Starship’s fourth flight, which took place on June 6. The video shows clips from the ignition, launch, booster separation and reentry of both Starship’s upper stage and the Super Heavy booster.
At the end of the video, an animation shows a 400-foot (122-meter) tall Super Heavy coming back for a landing on Starship’s launch tower, known as “Mechazilla,” next to the words “Next up” and “Flight 5,” suggesting the company plans to attempt to capture the booster during its upcoming flight test. SpaceX plans to capture Super Heavy on its launch tower so the rocket can be refurbished and relaunched more efficiently and in a shorter time, the company said.
SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has also hinted as much on social media. “I want to try this in late July!” Musk wrote on X last month, after Starship’s fourth flight.
The company previously posted a 60-second animation showing the “chopstick arms” of the massive Mechazilla launch tower catching a Super Heavy booster as it lands at Starbase, SpaceX’s site in South Texas.
Earlier, on June 27, the company posted a short video on X of Mechzilla’s chopstick arms grabbing a stationary Super Heavy as it sat upright on its launch pad. “Starbase team testing tower chopsticks for upcoming capture of Super Heavy booster,” SpaceX wrote in the video’s description.
Starship has launched four times so far: in April and November 2023, and on March 18 and June 6, 2024. Each test has been more successful than the last, and each time new milestones have been achieved.
During the first flight, Starship’s two stages failed to separate and the vehicle exploded in less than five minutes. During the most recent mission, both Starship and Super Heavy re-entered Earth’s atmosphere intact, with both crashing into the ocean.
The massive vehicle is designed with off-world destinations in mind. SpaceX wants Starship to reach Mars and potentially help settle humans there, while NASA plans to use the rocket to land crews on the moon during its Artemis program.