SSpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its final test flight on Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed after a dramatic booster collision with the pad.
Elon Musk’s company said the Starship had crashed, which it called an “unscheduled rapid disassembly.” It appears that the spacecraft’s six engines stopped working one by one during ascent, and communication with them was lost after only 8 and a half minutes of flight.
The spacecraft – a new and developed model for the first time – was supposed to fly across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas in a close loop around the globe similar to previous test flights. SpaceX packed it with 10 dummy satellites for launch practice.
One minute before the loss, SpaceX used the launch tower’s giant mechanical arms to catch the returning booster, a feat that had only been achieved once before. The descending booster hovered above the launch pad before grabbing hold of a pair of arms called chopsticks.
The joy of the hunt quickly turned into a disappointment not only for the company but for the crowds gathered along the southern tip of Texas.
“It was great to see the rocket land, but we’re obviously concerned about the ship,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Hout said. “It is a flight test. It is an experimental vehicle,” he stressed.
Latest data from the spacecraft indicated an altitude of 90 miles (146 kilometers) and a speed of 13,245 miles per hour (21,317 kilometers per hour).
Musk said preliminary analysis suggests the fuel leak may have increased pressure in a cavity at the top of the engine’s firewall. He added that a fire suppression system will be added to the area, along with increasing ventilation and checking for leaks via X.
The 400-foot (123-meter) rocket was launched in the late afternoon from Boca Chica Beach near the Mexican border. The late hour ensured daylight halfway around the world in the Indian Ocean. But the shiny, ancient-looking spacecraft never made it that far.
SpaceX made improvements to the spacecraft for the latest demonstration and added a fleet of mock-up satellites. The experimental satellites were the same size as SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites and, like the spacecraft, were supposed to be destroyed upon entry.
Musk plans to actually launch Starlinks on Starships before moving on to other satellites, and eventually to crews.
This was the seventh test flight of the largest and most powerful missile in the world. NASA has reserved a pair of spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s goal is Mars.
Hours earlier in Florida, a rocket company owned by another billionaire, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, launched its latest large rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, successfully placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. But the first stage booster was destroyed, and he was unable to make the intended landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.