by Opal Frazier Johnson (‘28)

On October 13, SpaceX launched the fifth rocket in its Starship program. Later that day, one of the rocket’s central boosters lowered itself precisely back to the launch site. This is a remarkable achievement for SpaceX and for space agencies worldwide. 

CNBC reporter Michael Sheetz says SpaceX’s Starship program aims to become a “fully reusable rocket system.” On each launch, the boosters and other materials from the rocket will lower themselves back to or near the launch site to be easily recovered. The booster was recovered a little over seven minutes after the launch, at 8:32 A.M.

N.A.S.A’s Administrator, Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on social media after the recovery, saying “As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead” This technology would be able to help space agencies spend less taxpayer money and have less impact on the environment, which is swaying many people to invest in the innovation of this project.

However, some are saying that SpaceX is wasting money on these projects due to its building and testing process. Traditionally, SpaceX has built and tested things quickly and then rebuilt and tried again. The SpaceX administration has denied these claims, saying that the same amount of money would be spent on the projects either way. 

Looking to the future, SpaceX plans to send two unmanned spacecrafts to Mars in 2026 to test the systems of the craft before putting humans onboard. According to Elon Musk, this schedule “…will depend upon the success of the uncrewed flights.” 

STUDENT SPOTLIGHTS

What do you think?

“I think that this technology will help us in the future, and it’s pretty cool, but it might not be the best thing to focus on with all the other problems in the world right now.”

– Holly Malsbury (‘25)

“I think that this is such an awesome development, and it’s definitely going to help N.A.S.A”

– Leanna Dusenbury (‘26)

“There’s a lot of math and physics that go into this, and I think it’s pretty cool.”

-Mrs. Hessler (Math 2)

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