SpaceX’s next-generation spacecraft, Starship, exploded minutes after takeoff and only partially achieved its intended goals, Reuters writes.
SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk’s plan is to create a spacecraft that will eventually be able to take people to the Moon and Mars. This was the first test of the combination, where the Starship spacecraft is connected to the new Super Heavy launch vehicle, and the first flight of the lower stage booster, which SpaceX calls the most powerful launch vehicle yet developed.
Although the two-stage rocket only made it halfway to space, rising to an altitude of fewer than 40 kilometers, the flight still achieved its primary goal of taking off from the ground. SpaceX officials are satisfied with the outcome, however, some other goals have not been achieved this time.
The Starship was planned to reach an altitude of 150 kilometers above the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and falling into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. In a SpaceX statement released after the test flight, it is said that
several engines stopped working during liftoff, the spacecraft lost altitude and began to roll,
and the abort system for both the launch vehicle and the spacecraft was activated.
On the 16th of April, Musk made remarks about the small chances of a successful flight. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in February that the main goal was not to blow up the launch pad. With that in mind, Starship’s first flight with the new launch vehicle has been successful and marks a turning point in SpaceX’s ambitions to take astronauts to the moon, and later to Mars.
The two-stage spacecraft reached a length of 120 meters and was launched from the company’s space flight base on the south coast of Texas.
SpaceX hoped that the spacecraft would be able to make a 90-minute flight in space,
a short distance from Earth’s orbit.
Less than four minutes after liftoff, the upper part of the Starship failed to separate from the launch vehicle, and the spacecraft began to roll. The launch site and adjacent area were cordoned off before the launch. Debris from the explosion was supposed to fall into the ocean, which had been cordoned off by the US Coast Guard.
The road to the first flight test has not been smooth either, and SpaceX has experienced a series of setbacks in the development of the Starship. Unlike SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, which have already returned to Earth dozens of times after flights, Starship would have fallen into the sea even if the flight had gone by the book. However, in time, the Starship is planned to be upgraded to the point where it can return and perform a controlled landing.
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