Bianca Wooden
SpaceX launched its most powerful rocket yet, but technical difficulties after takeoff caused Starship to crash and burn.
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The 400-foot-long vessel embarked on its disastrous journey Thursday morning from a launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas. While Starship took off without a hitch, the test failed during stage separation— the phase when the rocket was supposed to dislodge from the booster. The craft was seen spinning in circles before blowing up 18 miles into the air, according to the New York Post.
Despite the setback, both Elon Musk and the SpaceX team were pleased with the results of the test run. SpaceX has posted a video of the launch to their website.
“Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake,” commented a member of the team just after the explosion.
Musk congratulated his team on Twitter, posting photos from the test flight with the following caption: “Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”
SpaceX Counts Test Launch as a Win, Despite Explosion
Before undergoing what the launch team referred to as “a rapid, unscheduled disassembly,” Starship was expected to orbit the earth once before plunging into the ocean.
The Tesla CEO hopes that future versions of the spacecraft will be able to transport passengers to the moon and even Mars. Thankfully, no one was aboard the vessel during its test launch!
The official SpaceX Twitter account posted a hopeful message to its followers after the flight.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” the corporation wrote.
As for what’s left of the spacecraft, viewers were assured after the test flight that Space X would be “coordinating with local authorities for the recovery operations.”
