I grew up during the early days of the Space Race. Getting into orbit, getting to the moon–these were frequent and exciting news stories. One day when I was in elementary school, I and other members of my class were late to school because we stayed home, with our parents’ permission, to watch a launch from Cape Canaveral. The level of public interest was sky-high. In those days, the interstate highway system was new, and the Hoover Dam was a modern marvel.
But in recent decades, the United States seems to have lost the ability to do anything. We can’t build a dam, we can barely build a power plant. Our space program has been mothballed for years. Our military capability has declined, and our major airplane manufacturer, now apparently run by accountants rather than engineers, has stumbled badly.
In this bleak picture, the brightest star is Elon Musk. Among other achievements, his SpaceX has resuscitated America’s space program. This morning, it carried out one of the most impressive feats of engineering in human history:
Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster! pic.twitter.com/6R5YatSVJX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
This is the story:
Elon Musk’s ambition for making humans a multi-planetary species using a fully reusable rocket system edged another step closer on Sunday with the fifth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, which saw a perfect catch of its “super heavy” booster using chopstick-style mechanical arms.
To scenes of wild excitement among engineers watching on screen at the company’s headquarters in California, SpaceX broke new ground by sending the world’s largest and most powerful rocket aloft then returning its booster back to Earth to be captured by giant metallic arms on the launch pad nicknamed “Mechazilla”.
“This is a day for the engineering history books,” said Kate Tice, senior manager of quality systems engineering at SpaceX.
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It was another major milestone along SpaceX’s journey towards developing a fully reusable rocket system whose parts can be recovered and turned around rapidly for another launch without the need for refurbishment, to get people and cargo to destinations including the moon and Mars.
I don’t know how important space exploration will turn out to be to the human race, but the importance of both the reality and the perception of America as a country that, once again, can get things done, can’t be overstated.
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