By 
Story by TIM SULLIVAN
It was another test flight containing both successes and failures as SpaceX launched its 6th Starship prototype from Boca Chica Beach Tuesday.
The giant rocket blasted off right at 4 o’clock Tuesday afternoon and its Super Heavy booster successfully separated about 2-1/2 minutes later. But seconds after that, a launch tower capture of the booster was aborted. The booster was diverted offshore for a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico.
But about an hour later, the orbiting spaceplane made history by surviving re-entry and splashing down intact in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia.
No explanation was given for calling off what would have been just the second booster catch, but SpaceX has said in the past the maneuver would be attempted only with “healthy systems on the booster and tower.”
Tuesday’s mission came just a little more than a month after the test flight of Starship 5.
(Photo credit: SpaceX webcast)
