TEXAS (AFP) – SpaceX’s giant new rocket exploded minutes after launch on its first test flight on Thursday, crashing into the Gulf of Mexico.
Elon Musk’s company wanted to launch a 120-meter-long Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border on a round-the-world trip. It carried neither people nor satellites.
Images showed several engines failing as the 33-engine rocket ascended from the launch pad and reached altitudes of up to 24 miles (39 kilometers).
The flight plan called for the booster rocket to detach from the spacecraft a few minutes after launch, but that didn’t happen. The missile began to tip over and he exploded 4 minutes into the flight, crashing into the Gulf of Mexico. After separation, the spacecraft was to head east and orbit the world before crashing into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
Crowds watched from South Padre Island, a few miles away from the closed Boca Chica Beach launch site. As we took off, the crowd shouted:
“Go baby, go!”
Musk tweeted, “Exciting test launch for Starship! We’ve learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk put his chances of the spacecraft reaching orbit at 50/50.
The company plans to use his Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and eventually to Mars. NASA is booking spacecraft for its next moonwalking team, and wealthy tourists are already booking lunar flybys. It was my second start. Monday’s attempt was thwarted by a frozen booster his valve.
At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, the Starship will easily outperform her NASA lunar rockets of the past, present and future. Stainless steel rockets are designed to be fully reusable and fast spinning, significantly reducing costs. This is similar to SpaceX’s small Falcon rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing could be saved before the test flight. The futuristic spacecraft flew several kilometers above during tests a few years ago and has only landed successfully once. However, this was to be a first stage booster launch with her 33 methane-fueled engines.
SpaceX set up more boosters and spacecraft for more test flights. Musk wants to use spacecraft to launch satellites into low-Earth orbit and launch them in rapid succession so that they can pick people up from there.
