| |NOVEMBER, 202419touchdown. Notably, SpaceX has long mastered the landing process for the Falcon 9, a small workhorse rocket. However, the process is very different: instead of being caught in mid-air, the booster lands on a specially built platform using landing legs strapped to its sides.Why is Starship Important for the Future of Space Travel and Exploration?Starships are an important part of SpaceX's plan to send astronauts and cargo to celestial bodies. The company hopes to use the Starship HLS (Human Landing System) to send NASA astronauts back to the moon by 2026 as part of the Artemis III mission; CNN reports that SpaceX has signed government contracts worth up to about $4 billion to complete the mission. Ultimately, SpaceX hopes the Starship will send humans to Mars for the first time.But before these ambitious plans can be implemented, the company must prove that the Starship is safe and reliable. Historically, this has been a difficult challenge for spaceflight programs.For example, NASA's Space Shuttle program (which ended in 2011) consisted of partially reusable spacecraft, but the cost of maintaining and refurbishing the Space Shuttle proved to be far greater than the cost of launching disposable rockets.Real-Time Decision MakingThe decision to attempt to land the booster depended on a real-time evaluation by the flight director. The flight director had to make sure that both the booster and the launch tower were in good and stable condition. If conditions were not good, the booster would have fallen into the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately, everything was deemed ready, and the mechanical arm performed its task flawlessly as the employees cheered.Controlled SplashdownAfter the booster was detached, the retro-looking stainless steel spacecraft continued its journey around the globe, heading for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The flight time was just over an hour.For nine years, SpaceX has retrieved the first stage booster of the small Falcon 9 rocket and delivered the satellite and its crew into orbit from Florida and California. Unlike the Falcon 9, which typically lands on a floating platform or concrete pad in the ocean miles from the launch site, the successful recovery of the Starship booster represents a new capability that will increase the speed and cost efficiency of future space missions.
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