A failure occurred on Saturday, around eight minutes after launch, during SpaceX’s unmanned Starship rocket’s second integrated flight test.
As part of a scheduled ninety-minute test voyage to space and return, the two-stage booster launched the spacecraft from the Starbase launch site at Boca Chica in the US state of Texas and reached an altitude of ninety miles (148 km).
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated on X (previously Twitter) on Sunday that “for the first time, there is a rocket that can make all life multiplanetary,” despite the vessel appearing to have been lost. a divergence in human destiny
Before making landfall in the Pacific Ocean close to Hawaii, the Starship was intended to travel around the world at a height of 150 miles (241 km).
However, not long after detachment, the extremely heavy first stage booster exploded over the Gulf of Mexico. In a statement on X, which is likewise owned by Musk, SpaceX called the incident a “rapid unplanned separation.”
A few minutes later, a SpaceX announcer declared that mission control had lost touch with the spacecraft, but Starship’s main body had continued to ascent into space.
The primary body of the rocket itself may have been lost, as data from the second stage was missing, according to SpaceX engineer and livestream host John Insprucker’s post-launch statement. Although the cause was not immediately apparent, he stated that engineers believed an automatic termination command had been issued.
READ ALSO: After launch, SpaceX’s Starship rocket catches fire
The American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which referred to the outcome as a “mishap,” will supervise SpaceX’s probe into why the test mission ended just eight minutes after takeoff.
With only four minutes remaining before it exploded, the Starship’s April launch was only half as long as this one.
The launch on Saturday “will provide invaluable data to continue rapidly developing Starship,” a SpaceX spokesperson said. Furthermore, it stated that “success with a test like this comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”
In 2021, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chose SpaceX to supply a human landing system for the Artemis III mission (scheduled for launch in 2025), modify its design to satisfy the agency’s standards for sustainable exploration, and test a lander for the Artemis IV programme (scheduled for launch in 2028).
As per SpaceX, Starship is intended to transport both passengers and goods to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and more locations. Since 1972, there has been no human visit to the moon.
