SpaceX's Starship to Try Wild Midair Booster Catch

On Sunday morning, SpaceX is attempting something never done before. Around seven minutes after launching from South Texas, the massive Starship rocket's booster will try to return to the launch pad and hover, allowing robotic arms to catch it mid-air. This innovative method aims to quickly reuse the booster instead of the longer process used for SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which lands on a drone ship at sea. "Our goal is high reusability," said Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability.

This is the fifth launch of the full-scale Starship rocket, the largest ever to fly. Standing at 397 feet tall and 30 feet wide, it generates 17 million pounds of thrust with its 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, more than twice the power of NASA's Saturn V. The Federal Aviation Administration recently approved the launch, following a review focused on the sonic boom caused by the booster's return. Around 50 minutes before launch, SpaceX will begin loading cryogenic methane and liquid oxygen propellants into the rocket. The launch window opens at 7:00 am CDT (12:00 UTC), half an hour before sunrise. You can watch the live stream on SpaceX's website or several third-party YouTube channels.

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