Musk’s SpaceX Starship explodes during first flight test
Minutes after safely lifting off from Starbase, the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:33 am Central Time (1333 GMT), the unmanned rocket exploded.
Three minutes into the mission, the Starship spaceship that will eventually transport personnel and cargo was supposed to separate from the first-stage rocket booster. However, separation did not take place, and the rocket burst into flames over the Gulf of Mexico.
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Musk, the creator and CEO of the private space enterprise, deemed it a success even if the 90-minute flight test was not successful in reaching orbit.
“Congratulations SpaceX team on an exciting Starship test launch!” Tweeted by Musk. “Learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn,” stated SpaceX, “and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.”
One of the quality systems engineers for SpaceX, Kate Tice, said, “We cleared the tower, which was our only hope.
For the first time since the Apollo programme came to an end in 1972, NASA has chosen the Starship spacecraft to transport men to the Moon in late 2025. This mission is known as Artemis III.
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In congratulating SpaceX, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said that “every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward.”
Starship is made up of a 230-foot-tall first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket and a 164-foot (50-meter) tall spacecraft with room for crew and cargo.
However, the Starship spaceship and the Super Heavy rocket were being flown in tandem for the first time. In February, SpaceX successfully tested the 33 enormous Raptor engines on the first-stage booster.
Their combined performance was to be evaluated during the integrated test flight.
Prior to the test, Musk had forewarned of the possibility of technical difficulties and attempted to temper hopes for the first flight.
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