The seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket failed on Thursday, as the vehicle’s upper stage suffered a catastrophic failure while heading into space.
SpaceX has managed to achieve some success by repeating the feat of lugging the massive Super Heavy booster back onto the launch pad.
But data then indicated that some engines in the longer, updated version of the upper stage stopped working prematurely. About 8.5 minutes after launch, communications between Earth and the upper stage vehicle, known as Starship, were cut off.
“We can confirm that we have indeed lost the ship,” said Kate Tice, one of the hosts of SpaceX’s launch video.
Videos Posted on social media site X Debris appears to be raining down from the sky over the Caribbean Sea, likely parts of a disintegrated rocket.
in His own post on XMr Musk shared video footage of the wreck and wrote, “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
The Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that regulates commercial spaceflight, said in a statement that it “briefly slowed the aircraft and diverted its course around the area where spacecraft debris was falling.”
Starship is the rocket that Elon Musk, the company’s founder, says will one day take people to Mars. NASA is also paying SpaceX to develop a version of the vehicle to return American astronauts to the moon.
During the first six test flights, SpaceX demonstrated that it could launch the largest rocket ever into space and return the pieces to Earth more or less intact. Over the next year, the company is looking to turn “more or less” into “reliable” and demonstrate other capabilities. SpaceX has requested that the maximum number of Starship launches per year from Starbase, its launch site in South Texas, be increased to 25 from five.
Previous test flights, while not perfect, showed steady progress from one to the next. This seventh flight was the first that did not repeat all the achievements achieved in the previous flight.
The FAA has approved multiple launches of the current Starship configuration and does not require investigations into some of the failures that may occur during test flights.
However, because the rocket failure occurred during ascent, causing a shower of debris, the FAA may require SpaceX to investigate the cause before it will allow the next Starship launch.
Liftoff took place at 5:37 PM ET.
After completing its work of propelling the rocket through the thickest part of the atmosphere, the booster fell away and headed back towards the launch pad. It was then successfully captured by two mechanical arms on the launch tower.
Shortly thereafter, the spacecraft had a problem with the upper stage, ending what was supposed to be a one-hour flight to land in the Indian Ocean.
In a post on X on Thursday eveningMr Musk said initial analysis indicated there was an oxygen and fuel leak and that the problem could be quickly resolved.
“Apart from double checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to this volume and possibly increase the ventilation space,” he wrote. “Nothing yet indicates that the next launch will be postponed until next month.”
What is a spacecraft?
The Starship rocket system is the largest ever built — measuring 403 feet long, or nearly 100 feet longer than the Statue of Liberty including the base.
And it has the most engines ever in a rocket booster: The Super Heavy booster — the bottom of the rocket — has 33 of SpaceX’s powerful Raptor engines sticking out of its bottom. When these engines lift Starship from the launch pad in South Texas, they will generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full speed.
The top, also called Starship or Ship for short, looks like a shiny rocket from a sci-fi movie from the 1950s, and is made of stainless steel with large fins. This is the upper stage that will head into orbit, and eventually could carry people to the Moon or even Mars.
What happened during the previous trip?
President-elect Donald J. Trump attended the sixth test flight on November 19, visiting Mr. Musk in the launch control room. The top spacecraft flew on a suborbital path halfway around the world, successfully reentered the atmosphere and performed a landing maneuver, flipping to a vertical position before landing gently in the Indian Ocean about an hour after liftoff.
Unexpectedly, it flipped over and exploded.
The missile also successfully re-entered the atmosphere. But plans to catch it — a feat SpaceX achieved during its fifth test flight — were scrapped after sensors on the mechanical arms were damaged during launch. The booster was diverted to the Gulf of Mexico.
What was different about the seventh flight?
For the spacecraft on this seventh test flight, major design changes were made to the propulsion, heat shield and control systems. The rocket was several feet longer than previous Starships, space for larger tanks containing 25 percent more propellant. The flaps near the top of the spacecraft were smaller and moved toward the tip to reduce damage from scorching temperatures upon return.
While in space, the spacecraft was scheduled to test a new system that looked a bit like a PEZ candy dispenser. It was supposed to launch 10 mock satellites similar in size and shape to the next-generation spacecraft that will be deployed for SpaceX’s Starlink internet service. The dummy satellites were supposed to follow the path of the spacecraft and burn up in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
When will spacecraft be able to send humans into space?
Thursday’s failure will delay SpaceX’s ambitious rapid development schedule.
Even before the failure, the spacecraft was likely at least two years away from being ready for crewed missions. NASA plans to use a version of the Starship spacecraft to transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027.
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of Shift4, a propulsion services company who has twice flown into space aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, was scheduled to participate in the first crewed flight of Starship. But now that he has been chosen by Mr. Trump to be the next administrator of NASA, Mr. Isaacman is likely to remain on Earth, at least for the time being.
Eric Lipton Contributed to reports.