SpaceX launched its Starship rocket Thursday on its latest test flight, but the spacecraft was destroyed after a thrilling booster catchback on the pad.
Elon Musk’s company announced that the spacecraft’s six engines appeared to fail one by one, causing it to lose contact just eight and a half minutes into the flight.
As with previous test flights, the spacecraft was scheduled to fly almost completely around the globe, starting in Texas and crossing the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX had packed 10 dummy satellites to practice the release. This was the first flight of this new and improved spacecraft.
A minute earlier, SpaceX used the launch tower’s giant mechanical arm to catch the returning booster, a feat accomplished only once before. During the descent, the booster hovered over the launch pad and was then grabbed by a pair of arms called chopsticks.
AP Photo/Eric Gay On January 16, 2025, SpaceX’s giant rocket Starship booster returns to the launch pad during a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
The excitement of the catch quickly turned to disappointment, not only for the company, but also for the crowds gathered in the southern tip of Texas.
“While we were happy to see the booster come down, we’re obviously disappointed with the ship,” said SpaceX spokesman Dan Fott, adding that after analyzing the data, we’re not sure what happened. He added that it will take time to figure out the issue. “It’s a flight test. It’s an experimental vehicle.”
The last data received from the spacecraft indicated an altitude of 90 miles (146 kilometers) and a speed of 13,245 miles (21,317 kilometers per hour).
The 400-foot-long (123-meter) rocket roared off Boca Chica Beach near the Mexican border in the late afternoon. The late hour ensured that sunlight would shine halfway around the globe in the Indian Ocean. But the shiny, retro-looking spaceship never got very far.
SpaceX was upgrading its spacecraft for its latest demonstration. The test satellite was the same size as SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellite, and like a spacecraft, it was scheduled to be destroyed upon entry.
Musk plans to launch the actual Starlink on Starship before moving on to other satellites and eventually crews.
This was the seventh test flight of the world’s largest and most powerful rocket. NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s goal is Mars.
Hours earlier, in Florida, another billionaire’s rocket company, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, launched its newest super-rocket, the New Glenn. The rocket successfully reached orbit on its first flight, placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. However, the first stage booster was destroyed and it missed its destination landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
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