Texas. The largest rocket in the world, Starship, Developed by SpaceX for trips to the Moon and Mars, it exploded shortly after takeoff, but this first test flight was celebrated by the company’s owner, Elon Musk, who foresees a new launch “in a few months.”
The black and silver megarocket lifted off successfully at 8:33 a.m. local time (1:33 p.m. GMT) from Starbase, SpaceX’s space base in Boca Chica, Texas, to cheers from employees, but exploded soon after.
“Congratulations to the SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! We have learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months,” Musk tweeted.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown. The purpose of this test flight was to collect as much data as possible to improve the following prototypes.
On Monday, a first takeoff attempt was canceled in the last minutes of the countdown, due to a technical problem.
The US space agency, NASA, chose the spacecraft starship to transport astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the program ended Apollo in 1972. The mission, known as Artemis III, It is scheduled for the end of 2025.
NASA chief Bill Nelson praised SpaceX. “Every great achievement in history has required some calculated risk,” he tweeted. He added that he was “looking forward to” the upcoming test.
With 120 meters, starship It was taller than NASA’s new megarocket, SLS (98 meters), which took off for the first time in November, and which the legendary Saturn V, the moon program rocket Apollo (111 meters).
Starship consisted of a powerful first stage, called Super Heavy and equipped with 33 engines, and a second stage, the spacecraft starship which by extension gave its name to the entire rocket.
SpaceX had successfully conducted a test-firing of all 33 engines in February, but Super Heavy and starship they had never flown together. The test ride was meant to assess its performance in full configuration.
did not part with Super Heavy
Yesterday, the flight plan was as follows: about three minutes after takeoff, the booster Super Heavy would separate from starship and would fall into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but this separation did not occur and the rocket exploded.
If the separation had been successful, Starship, which had six of its own engines, it should have continued its ascent to an altitude of more than 150 kilometers, before falling into the Pacific after completing one almost complete orbit of the Earth.
However, getting through all these steps in the first test flight would have been quite a feat.
Musk had tempered expectations. He said it was unlikely that he would reach orbit on the first try. He indicated that he hoped at least that the launch pad was not destroyed by the explosion of the rocket engines. Super Heavy when turned on, since rebuilding it could take “months”.
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