UNITED STATES: SpaceX’s Starship rocket, designed to carry crew and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, suffered a catastrophic failure during its test flight on Thursday. The massive rocket, standing at 164 feet tall and consisting of a spacecraft atop a first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket measuring 230 feet, was launched from the private SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas.
The flight appeared to be going smoothly until the Starship capsule failed to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight, leading to a rapid explosion of the entire rocket in mid-air. SpaceX teams are currently investigating the cause of the failure.
SpaceX has rated the test flight a success despite the tragic ending. According to a tweet from the firm, “With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s dependability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.”
The Starship rocket, which can hoist a payload of over 100 metric tonnes into orbit and produce 17 million pounds of thrust—more than double what the Saturn V rockets used to launch the Apollo astronauts to the Moon—is the most powerful rocket ever created. NASA has chosen the Starship spaceship to transport men to the Moon in late 2025, the first time since the Apollo program’s cancellation in 1972.
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, had attempted to temper expectations for the first test flight by forewarning of the possibility of technical difficulties before the launch. “It’s an extremely dangerous flight. This rocket could go wrong in a million different ways,” he declared.
Despite the setback, Musk remains committed to SpaceX’s ultimate goal of establishing bases on the Moon and Mars and enabling humans to become a “multi-planet species.” In the future, the business plans to launch a Starship into orbit and refuel it with another Starship so that it may continue its voyage to Mars or beyond.
The Starship rocket has faced a number of setbacks and delays during its development, but SpaceX remains undeterred in its pursuit of space exploration and innovation.
Also Read: SpaceX Receives US Regulatory Green Light for Starship Flight’s Launch into Space
