How hard is it to catch a rocket? SpaceX will try on Sunday during its fifth test flight of Starship, the giant next-generation rocket that is the most powerful ever built.
NASA is counting on Starship to take astronauts to the moon, and Elon Musk, the company's founder, sees it as a vehicle for his ambitions of humanity's colonization of Mars. The massive, stainless steel vehicle is taller than the Statue of Liberty and its pedestal and is capable of carrying about 550,000 pounds to orbit. It is divided into two sections, the lower booster stage known as the Super Heavy that has 33 engines, and the upper Starship stage that is to travel to and from orbit with cargo or astronauts aboard.