Why SpaceX's fifth Starship flight was so revolutionary

SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest ever launched into space, made history by catching the booster at the launch site for the very first time.

Transcript

00:00Well, Starship really has the potential to be completely revolutionary.

00:03It's going to be a real game-changer, just because of its scale,

00:06because of its economics, and because of its capabilities.

00:09All three of those reasons will really change what we do in space.

00:13T-minus five, four, three, two, one.

00:18Zero, one.

00:30So, I can't emphasize enough how big this rocket is.

00:56It's almost twice as big as the biggest rocket we have ever successfully launched.

01:01Right now, when we launch Crew Dragon, we could take four people in there, up to the space station.

01:06Starship, theoretically, could carry maybe as many as 100 people at a time.

01:11That's a big change. So this is a big step forward, and it's a gargantuan rocket.

01:21If you look at an airliner flying from point A to point B,

01:26the fuel cost is over 90% of the cost of that mission.

01:30Starship, because it's 100% reusable, if it can achieve rapid, affordable reusability,

01:37has the promise to get us more like that airliner, right?

01:41Where the cost of the fuel is actually the major cost of the launch.