Elon Musk’s SpaceX Achieves Historic Milestone with Starship Landing

Elon Musk faces doubts about whether he can still deliver. SpaceX made history by returning the Heavy Booster to its launch site. SpaceX made history as it returned its Super Heavy booster to its launch site in Texas. For Elon Musk, it was a chance to prove the doubters wrong — and he did. Missed deadlines and issues across his companies have raised concerns about his ability to deliver.

SpaceX Starship's Milestone Flight

It was a moment for the history books. As SpaceX's Starship took flight for the fifth time from its launch site in southern Texas on Sunday, the marvel of seeing the most powerful rocket ever soar into the skies was more than matched by the landing. The Super Heavy — the first-stage booster used to launch the nearly 400-foot-tall spacecraft — was fully recovered as it descended into the chopstick-like arms of the "Mechazilla" tower, from which it had taken off about seven minutes prior before reaching the edge of space.

Elon Musk's Seminal Moment

For Elon Musk, this was a seminal moment: Not only had the company he founded in 2002 pulled off an engineering world-first that seemed implausible a few years ago, but it had also given him a chance to prove to doubters that he could deliver on cosmic-scale ambitions. The billionaire, who has repeatedly talked of his dreams to take humanity to Mars and beyond, has long touted the need for re-useable rockets to achieve that goal — for both cost and technical reasons — while being upfront about how difficult it is to create them.

Future Ambitions and Challenges

As Musk continues to lead sprawling companies with ambitions to dominate everything from space to AI to autonomous cars, investors, employees, and regulators alike are keeping a close eye on how many other big dreams will translate to reality. Questions over the ability to deliver have arisen as Musk's corporate empire expands, with big promises seeming fiendishly difficult to accomplish.

Proving the Doubters Wrong

Musk's latest feat at SpaceX shows he still has the ability to accomplish things that would have once seemed impossible. On a 2021 episode of the Lex Fridman podcast, Musk described the difficulty of the task he had set himself, emphasizing the monumental challenge of catching the largest flying object ever made on a giant tower with chopstick arms. Despite challenges and doubts, Musk's track record of pushing boundaries and achieving remarkable milestones continues to inspire awe and admiration.

Future Endeavors

Next year, SpaceX will aim to complete a crewed orbit of the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis II mission. In 2026, it is slated to be involved in the Artemis III mission, which aims to land humans on the Moon. Can Musk help achieve something that hasn't been done since 1972, the last time humans landed on the Moon? As his old pal Peter Thiel once said, "Never bet against Elon."

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By: hchowdhury@insider.com (Hasan Chowdhury)
Title: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Achieves Historic Milestone with Starship Landing
Sourced From: www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-landing-super-heavy-2024-10
Published Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2024 03:10:17 +0000