SpaceX’s spectacular Starship rocket exploded in the sky a few minutes after a successful liftoff on the south coast of Texas. So far, the causes of the failure are unknown, although the company’s engineers said they considered the test to be successful and that a new attempt could be made in the coming months.
Through his Twitter account, SpaceX owner, billionaire Elon Musk, reacted immediately to congratulate everyone involved and motivate them to continue working on a project that ultimately aims to have a device that will take humans to the Moon and Mars. “Congratulations team on an exciting Starship test launch. I learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
What Happened to SpaceX’s Starship?
This was SpaceX’s second attempt at testing the large Starship rocket project, designed to transport people to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars, which is composed of a fully integrated spacecraft (Starship) and booster (Super Heavy Rocket). Starship had to cancel liftoff last Monday after technicians discovered that a pressurization valve was frozen.
“In a test like this, success comes from what we learn. What happened today will help us improve Starship’s confidence as SpaceX seeks to make life ‘multi-planetary,'” was part of the company’s official statement.
What’s Next for Starship and SpaceX?
SpaceX noted that the teams’ engineers “will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test,” although, at the moment, there is no precise information on what happened to cause the rocket to explode.
Although in the first moments of liftoff, it seemed that everything was going according to plan, the rocket began to spin on its axis, and instead of separating, as planned in the first stage of the flight, the spacecraft ended up exploding and without finishing the 90-minute journey before splashing down near Hawaii.
Elon Musk had previously made it clear that the test had a 50 percent chance of failure. SpaceX’s own commentators, during the live broadcast, showed enthusiasm even though not everything went as scheduled, and the rocket exploded.
Today’s mission was scheduled for liftoff, a flyby, and splashdown of the first stage of the rocket, the Super Heavy, in the Gulf of Mexico, while the Starship was to land in Hawaii. The spacecraft should have separated, but Starship and Super Heavy still exploded together after starting to spin out of control for a few seconds before turning into a fireball.
SpaceX: What is Starship?
Starship is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to the Earth’s orbit, return to the Moon, and travel to Mars. The height of the massive rocket and spacecraft is 120 meters, the diameter is 9 meters, and it can carry 100 to 150 metric tons of cargo, expandable to 250 tons.
SpaceX closes today’s day with the explosion of the rocket that its technicians consider practically a success after overcoming a critical phase of the flight with the liftoff and verifying that the new engines worked, at least partially. Starship, when fully operational, is designed to carry up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights.
Story written in Spanish by Miguel Fernández in Cultura Colectiva News
