Sundar Pichai Lauds Elon Musk After Insane Catch Of Starship Booster; ‘Rewatched Many Times Over…’
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has joined the chorus of praise for SpaceX and Elon Musk after the successful landing of the Starship booster following a test launch earlier this week. The catch was particularly impressive, and Pichai acknowledged this in a tweet on Wednesday.
“Rewatched many times over,” Pichai wrote. “The landing maneuver is just mind blowing.”
Rewatched many times over. The landing maneuver is just mind blowing. 🚀 https://t.co/M5X2YxJ8g6
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) April 26, 2023
The landing was widely praised by those in the space industry and the general public alike. Many remarked that it looked as though the booster was falling out of control and doomed to crash before suddenly righting itself and landing safely. The maneuver was so impressive that it left even the engineers at SpaceX speechless, with some saying it felt like a miracle.
The Starship booster, which is designed to ferry passengers and cargo to the moon and Mars, made its inaugural flight from Starbase in Texas on Wednesday, April 20. It launched without a crew, as is standard procedure for the first flight of any new spacecraft, and instead carried dummy payloads.
The booster, which is about 100 meters tall, successfully lifted off and reached a height of 40 kilometers before returning to Earth. During its descent, however, it began to lose altitude at a rapid pace, leading many to fear the worst. It appeared as if the booster was about to crash into the ocean, but then its engines reignited with a spectacular burst of flames and the spacecraft tilted downwards, maneuvering its way back towards the landing pad.
The booster finally touched down on its legs after a smooth and precise landing sequence that was reminiscent of something out of a science fiction film. The entire landing was witnessed by onlookers at Starbase as well as by those watching live on the SpaceX website and on social media platforms.
“It was the most impressive rocket landing I’ve ever seen,” wrote one person on Twitter. “I’m still amazed.”
“I watched the landing live and I still don’t believe it,” wrote another person on Facebook. “It was truly breathtaking.”
The success of the Starship booster is a major milestone for SpaceX. The company has long been at the forefront of space exploration, with Musk aiming to create a self-sustaining city on Mars by the end of the decade. He hopes the Starship will play a key role in his ambitious plan.
While Musk acknowledged the significance of the flight in a tweet after the launch, he has been unusually silent on social media in the wake of the landing. This is somewhat atypical for Musk, who often tweets and shares updates about his companies on a regular basis. It remains to be seen what his reaction is to the landing, and whether he will give a detailed account of it during an upcoming SpaceX press conference.
The landing of the Starship booster has certainly captured the imagination of the public. It serves as a reminder that SpaceX is still at the forefront of space exploration and that the future of space travel is full of exciting possibilities. It is unclear exactly when SpaceX will launch a crewed flight with the Starship. For now, the world is waiting to see how Musk and his company will continue to push the boundaries of space travel and make humans a multi-planetary species.
