SpaceX Starship Rocket Explodes for Second Launch in a Row
SpaceX Starship Rocket Explodes for Second Launch in a Row
SpaceX’s massive Starship spacecraft exploded in space on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, prompting the FAA to halt air traffic in parts of Florida. This is the second straight failure this year for Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program.
Several videos on social media showed fiery debris streaking through the dusk skies near south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship broke up in space shortly after it began to spin uncontrollably with its engines cut off, a SpaceX live stream of the mission showed.
The eighth Starship test’s failure comes just over a month after the seventh, which also ended in an explosive failure. The back-to-back mishaps occurred in early mission phases that SpaceX has easily surpassed previously, a setback for a program Musk had sought to speed up this year.
The 403-foot (123-metre) rocket system is central to Musk’s plan to send humans to Mars as soon as the turn of the decade.
SpaceX Starship seen spinning in space
The rocket lifted off about 6:30pm ET (2330GMT) from SpaceX’s sprawling Boca Chica, Texas, rocket facilities. The Super Heavy first stage booster flew back to Earth as planned and was successfully grabbed in midair by a SpaceX crane.
But minutes later, SpaceX’s live stream showed the Starship upper stage spinning in space, while a visualization of the rocket’s engines showed multiple engines shut down. Then the company said it had lost contact with the ship, and announcers immediately drew a connection to the previous flight.
“Once you lose enough of those center engines, you’re going to lose attitude control,” said Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager. “And so we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point, we have lost contact with the ship.”
SpaceX says no toxic materials in debris
In a statement late Thursday, SpaceX said Starship experienced an “energetic event” in its aft section, which resulted in the loss of several engines.
“Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines,” according to a statement from SpaceX. “This in turn led to a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship. Final contact with Starship came approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.”
SpaceX said that Starship flew within a designated launch corridor.
“Any surviving debris would have fallen within the pre-planned Debris Response Area,” according to the statement. “There are no toxic materials present in the debris and no significant impacts expected to occur to marine species or water quality.
Starship was aiming to make nearly a full orbit around Earth and re-enter over the Indian Ocean for a splashdown, simulating a landing sequence that SpaceX wants to soon carry out on land as a key next phase of the rocket’s development.