Photo by Bill Jelen on Unsplash
SpaceX Launches Fifth Starship And Catches Booster for the First Time
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- SpaceX successfully launched its fifth test flight for Starship this Sunday
- For the first time, the company managed to bring back the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s arm
- The new catch-landing method will be used for upcoming missions
The American aerospace company SpaceX launched this Sunday its fifth test flight for its uncrewed rocket Starship, and, for the first time, caught the 233 foot—71 meters—tall Super Heavy booster back in the launch tower’s arm.
According to Reuters , the launch and reception took place in Texas at Tesla’s facility. The rocket Starship continued its way to space after detaching from its booster at an altitude of 40 miles—around 70 kilometers. To go back to the launch pad, the booster slowed down its fall by turning on again its 33 engines and slowly going back into the large metal arms of the base tower.
SpaceX shared the video on X with the booster’s path and the celebration of the historic engineering achievement, reaching over 33 million views.
Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster! pic.twitter.com/6R5YatSVJX — SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2024
The NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, congratulated SpaceX on X : “As we prepare to go back to the Moon under Artemis, continued testing will prepare us for the bold missions that lie ahead — including to the South Pole region of the moon and then on to Mars.”
Starship is part of the company’s project to launch 5 uncrewed missions within the next two years before sending humans to Mars, announced last month.
According to the New York Times , SpaceX had experience bringing back the boosters, but they landed on a floating platform before. It’s the first time it goes back to the tower’s “chopsticks”, as the company nicknamed the mechanical arms. The company expects to use the same structure as a catch-landing method to bring back Starships as well.
Starship has improved over time since it was announced in 2017. During the first tests multiple rockets exploded, but in June the company completed a full flight for the first time. With this launch, the company improved its heat-shielding tiles—one of the challenges of the past launch.
Photo by Akin Cakiner on Unsplash
Game Freak Confirms Massive Pokémon Leak
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Game Freak confirms 2,606 items have been leaked after a hack in August
- Sensitive information like names and addresses of current and former employees has been disclosed
- Users on Reddit, X, discord, and other platforms have been sharing designs, videos, and other information allegedly included in the leak
Game Freak, the Pokémon game developer, confirmed they had been hacked and that private information was leaked this weekend.
According to the BBC , the company had been developing Nintendo’s games since 1996 and its servers were attacked earlier this year, in August. The data stolen includes historical content accumulated over the years.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused to all involved,” said Game Freak in a recent public statement, confirming that 2,606 items had been leaked. The company explained that private information like emails, names, and addresses of current and former employees were disclosed and that they would individually contact those affected.
Game Freak didn’t provide many details on the information exposed, nor confirmed or denied any of the thousands of posts and “secrets” revealed on social media channels like X, and other platforms like Reddit and Discord.
According to PCGamer , the leak revealed “never-before-seen Pokémon art, design documents, and other development material on social media.” However, people have reported fake information has also been shared by disseminators leading to difficulties in differentiating what is real and what is not.
“For all of those just tuning in, we’re currently covering the Game Freak Teraleak,” posted the account Centro LEAKS on X , after sharing multiple posts with leaked data, “Lots of source files and beta content for past Pokémon games are currently leaking, along with a few details on upcoming projects. We expect more information to be uncovered in the coming hours and days.”
Many Pokémon fans have been enjoying the content leaked, and others have also expressed concern about the sensitive information from developers and Game Freak workers revealed.
Nintendo officially opened its museum a few days ago, on October 2.
