SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a video of rocket parts raining down from the sky on Thursday after the company lost the Starship’s new-generation upper stage spacecraft during the seventh test flight of its Super Heavy-Starship mega rocket.
What Happened: Musk said on X, “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
The first stage booster was successfully recaptured, but the Starship’s telemetry froze eight minutes and 27 seconds post-launch due to unexpected engine shutdowns or failures, reported CBS News.
The Super Heavy-Starship mega rocket was launched from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, manufacturing and flight test facility at 5:37 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday. The rocket, powered by 33 methane-burning Raptor engines, generated up to 16 million pounds of thrust.
Two minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff, the Super Heavy detached, allowing Starship to ascend toward space powered by its six Raptor engines. However, the loss of telemetry left flight controllers in the dark about the final stages of the ascent.
SpaceX later confirmed the ship’s destruction on X, stating, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn.”
Why It Matters: The seventh test flight of the Starship had been postponed to Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions. The test flight featured multiple experiments to test a variety of heat shield improvements, including metallic tiles and one with active cooling.
Earlier in December, Musk shared his vision of developing a fully reusable heat shield by 2025. The entrepreneur had also outlined a bold timeline for sending SpaceX’s Starship to Mars within two years, but he warned that regulatory challenges could delay these plans. T
The ongoing test program will determine when SpaceX’s ambitious missions of sending humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, and Mars might be possible.
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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Shivdeep Dhaliwal
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