SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster came within a reported one second of triggering an abort during Starship Flight 5’s tower-catch sequence on October 13, 2024. According to a later Space.com account of an audio conversation posted by Elon Musk, a misconfigured spin-gas abort condition could have sent the healthy booster away from the tower toward the ground. The tower caught it successfully; the reported near miss was a software/configuration issue, not a near-explosion.
What happened during the Flight 5 landing?
During Starship Flight 5 at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, the Super Heavy first stage returned to the launch site about seven minutes after liftoff. The launch tower’s mechanical arms—often called “chopsticks”—caught and held the booster. The flight director made the real-time decision to attempt the landing, and SpaceX assessed the condition of both the booster and tower before proceeding, according to the Associated Press.
The Starship upper stage continued separately and made a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean. The booster catch was therefore a distinct part of the mission: a return to the launch site rather than a water landing.
Why was the booster reportedly one second from aborting?
In a report published October 28, 2024, Space.com described an audio conversation Elon Musk posted about Flight 5. One of three unnamed SpaceX engineers reportedly said that a misconfigured spin-gas abort condition did not have the appropriate ramp-up time for spin pressure. The engineer said the booster came within one second of the condition tripping.
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Had it tripped, the system would reportedly have instructed the booster to abort the tower landing and head toward the ground nearby, even though the rocket was healthy. The engineer described it as an erroneous instruction to avoid the catch. This is a second-hand account of an engineer’s explanation, not a formal mishap finding or an independently confirmed FAA conclusion.
What other risk did the engineers describe?
The same Space.com account says the engineers discussed a chine cover coming off during descent above valves needed for the landing burn. They reportedly said the cover did not damage the valves or their wiring, and that they had a plan to address the cover issue. That detail shows why a successful catch did not mean the return was without vehicle risk.
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What does the near miss say about Starship reuse?
The catch demonstrated that SpaceX could return and capture Super Heavy at the launch tower in this test. Space.com described the broader goal as bringing both Super Heavy and Starship (“Ship”) down at the launch mount, potentially speeding inspection, refurbishment and reflight. Flight 5 was a milestone toward that approach; the catch alone does not establish that rapid or routine reuse had been achieved.
The engineer also reportedly said the team had around 100 nontrivial but well-grounded aborts that had not been reviewed as thoroughly as pre-Flight 1 liftoff aborts. That is an attributed figure from the conversation, not an independently audited count or a total for all Starship flights.
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What did the FAA review—and what did it not establish?
The FAA’s October 2024 archive says its written re-evaluation addressed the Flight 5 mission profile and concluded that the existing 2022 environmental assessment remained current and substantially valid for the related license modification. That environmental review is regulatory context; it does not substantiate the reported spin-gas abort configuration or amount to an FAA finding about the near miss.
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