SpaceX Starship Flight Ends in Mid-Flight Disintegration

Texas, May 28 (AP) - SpaceX launched its colossal Starship rocket again on Tuesday evening, following two previous explosive attempts. However, the flight fell short of its key goals, as the spacecraft lost control and disintegrated mid-flight.

The towering 123-meter rocket took off from SpaceX's Starbase launch site situated at the southernmost edge of Texas, which is on the path to being formally recognized as a city following a recent vote by local residents.

SpaceX, led by CEO Elon Musk, aimed to deploy a series of mock satellites post-launch. Unfortunately, this objective could not be met because the hatch did not fully open. As the spacecraft skimmed the edge of space, it began spinning uncontrollably, culminating in a breakup during an unplanned descent toward the Indian Ocean.

The company later acknowledged the incident as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly," or an unintended breakup.

"Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test," the company stated online.

Elon Musk commented on platform X that the recent test marked a “big improvement” compared to the two previous attempts, which ended in wreckage over the Atlantic Ocean.

Despite this setback, Musk promised a more aggressive launch timetable, planning a Starship launch every three to four weeks over the next three flights.

This launch was noteworthy as it marked the first flight of a Starship intended for lunar and Martian missions using a recycled booster. SpaceX opted to push the booster to its structural limits, foregoing attempts to capture it with colossal chopsticks on the launch pad.

The company lost communication with the booster, which subsequently disintegrated on impact in the Gulf of Mexico while the spacecraft continued its ill-fated path toward the Indian Ocean.

Fuel leaks appeared to be the cause of the spacecraft losing control, prompting SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot to remark, "Not looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today."

The mission included a plan to test the spacecraft's heat shield during a controlled reentry, but communication was lost before this could happen. SpaceX ceased its webcast shortly after.

The earlier attempts this year ended prematurely, raining debris across the ocean, though no injuries or substantial damage were reported aside from disruptions to air travel.

The Federal Aviation Administration had recently authorized another Starship flight, expanding the hazard zone and scheduling liftoff during low air traffic periods to minimize disruptions.

Alongside implementing corrective measures, SpaceX made upgrades to the latest spacecraft, including enhanced thermal tiles and special fittings designed to capture future models upon return, similar to how boosters are recovered.

Though this Starship was intended to splash down in the Indian Ocean, practicing the retrieval add-ons remained a focus for future recovery missions.

NASA is counting on SpaceX to achieve significant progress with the Starship—the largest and most potent rocket to date—in order to facilitate lunar landings for astronauts.

Planned for next year, a lunar flyby will involve four astronauts circumnavigating the moon without landing. A surface landing is targeted for 2027 at the earliest, requiring a Starship to ferry two astronauts from lunar orbit down to the moon's surface and back.

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