SpaceX Finally Sinks Flight 6 Super Heavy Booster Part In Water

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After the 232-feet-tall Super Heavy booster for Starship Flight 6 refused to sink to the bottom of the water, fresh footage shows a portion of the rocket sinking and meeting its final destination. SpaceX’s Starship Flight 6 took to the skies earlier this month, and as opposed to Flight 5, it saw the booster make a soft splashdown in the water instead. The splashdown occurred after controllers decided to abort the tower catch, and Elon Musk’s statements confirmed later that an issue with the launch tower was behind the abort.

SpaceX’s Super Heavy Booster Finally Sinks And Heads To Its Resting Place

SpaceX’s Starship Flight 6 was the only test flight in which the Super Heavy booster survived the water landing intact and was not caught by the launch tower. The firm’s operational commitments with the FAA require it to sink the booster in the ocean after it lands. However, SpaceX’s Flight 6 live stream footage showed the rocket floating at an upward angle post-splashdown. Later, additional footage showed a close-up of the tail or aft section of the rocket that had failed to sink.

If the booster fails to sink into the water, SpaceX must follow pre-determined strategies to avoid polluting the water’s surface. In its submission to the FAA, the firm outlined two primary methods for sinking the Super Heavy. The first is to “remotely open the tank vents allowing water into the tank to sink the vehicle.” In case SpaceX cannot open the vents, it will open the tank valves, and if this does not work, then the third option requires the firm to use a ship and towline to “roll the vehicle on its long axis to induce sinking.”

SpaceX loads Starship Flight 6 full stack with propellants for a test ahead of Tuesday's test flight — The Starship Flight 6 stack during propellant load tests before launch. Image: SpaceX

For the Flight 6 Super Heavy booster, after the ship was guided by support aircraft to the south of its landing site, it appears that SpaceX has finally sunk the rocket. Fresh footage from X shows a portion of the rocket collapsing and then sinking into the water. As opposed to close up footage of the booster which was shot at night, this footage is from daytime. It shows the tail-end of the rocket separated from the rest of the body and then crumbling into itself before sinking.

The short clip does not show the engine section of the rocket, and before it ends, the rocket’s section does not fully disappear below the water’s surface. With Starship Flight 6 over, SpaceX will now focus on Flight 7, which can take place in January. Since the tower catch abort was due to a problem on the tower, the firm should find it easy to make repairs and attempt a catch on the next test.

Flight 7 will also be the first test of an upgraded upper-stage Starship spacecraft. This ship has larger propellant tanks and an upgraded flap design that aims to avoid fires at reentry. According to Musk, if SpaceX successfully splashes the upper stage in the rocket in Flight 7, then the firm could attempt to catch the ship with the launch tower on the next flight.