Texas, May 28 (AP) – In a renewed attempt to advance its space ambitions, SpaceX launched its colossal Starship rocket from the Starbase launch site in southern Texas on Tuesday evening. However, the mission did not meet its primary objectives, as the spacecraft lost control and disintegrated mid-flight.
Standing at 123 meters, this was the ninth demonstration flight for the Starship, occurring shortly after residents voted to officially establish the area as a city. SpaceX, under the leadership of CEO Elon Musk, aimed to deploy a series of mock satellites post-launch. Unfortunately, this was thwarted when the hatch failed to open completely.
The mission took a further blow when the spacecraft began an uncontrolled spin while on course to the Indian Ocean. SpaceX later announced the vehicle had undergone a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” essentially meaning it exploded.
SpaceX stated online, “Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test.” This was a significant flight for Musk’s vision, as it marked the first time a Starship flew with a reused booster, although recovery plans for this booster, involving giant chopsticks for catching, were not enacted this time.
During the mission, contact with the booster was lost, and it ultimately smashed to pieces in the Gulf of Mexico, while the spacecraft continued on its ill-fated trajectory toward the Indian Ocean. The loss of control seemed to be rooted in fuel leaks.
SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot remarked, “Not looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today.” A crucial component of the test involved the spacecraft's heat shield during a controlled reentry attempt.
Before the spacecraft's destructive descent, communication was severed, leading to the early termination of SpaceX’s webcast. Previous Starship flights had similarly ended prematurely, crashing just after launch and scattering debris, but they did not advance past the Caribbean in their trajectories.
Following the FAA's broadening of the hazard area and rescheduling the liftoff to off-peak air travel times, SpaceX launched again. The company had implemented changes and upgrades, including modifications to the spacecraft's thermal tiles and the addition of specialized capture fittings. This iteration was intended to be submerged in the Indian Ocean, with successful tests of these enhancements planned for future retrievals similar to boosters.
NASA has vested interest in significant progress from SpaceX with Starship, heralded as the most robust and imposing rocket ever created. The agency looks to SpaceX to ferry astronauts to the moon in the near future. The next mission, scheduled for next year, will involve a lunar flyby with four astronauts, paving the way for a potential moon landing in 2027. This endeavor will require Starship to transport two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back.
By: AP
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