Aakash GuptaLead source
Every rocket that has ever made it to orbit, going back to Sputnik in 1957, has thrown part of itself away. SpaceX wants to end that as early as next Friday, which happens to be Friday the 13th. The plan is to catch both halves of Starship with the tower's giant chopsticks, the booster and the ship on top of it. The Space Shuttle came closest to reusing everything. NASA flew the orbiter home and fished the two solid rocket boosters out of the Atlantic after every launch, but the big orange fuel tank broke apart over the ocean every single time. Divide what the program cost by its 135 missions and each flight came out to roughly $1.5 billion. Falcon 9 got the booster back, and later the nose cone halves. The second stage still gets thrown away on every launch. SpaceX flew 165 Falcon…Read original on X