The SpaceX Starship – developed by Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX – blasted off from Texas on Thursday for its seventh test flight, but it encountered difficulties
Elon Musk’s quest to reach Mars hit another snag last night as his SpaceX Starship was destroyed amid its seventh test flight.
Crowds gathered in Texas to watch the spacecraft – a new and upgraded model making its debut – blast into the sky, with the intention to soar across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world.
But less than ten minutes in, Starship broke apart in what Mr Musk’s company SpaceX called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”. Its six engines appeared to shut down one by one during ascent.
SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said: “It was great to see a booster come down, but we are obviously bummed out about ship… It’s a flight test. It’s an experimental vehicle.” However, Associated Press, a global news agency, reports the spacecraft was destroyed. Unverified footage shared on social media shows what appears to be the rocket breaking up in flames.
Mr Musk’s aerospace company, founded in California in 2002, had posted on X: “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”
The Starship – the biggest rocket ever created at nearly 400feet (121metres) tall – was packed with 10 dummy satellites for practice at releasing them for the test flight.
The last data received from the spacecraft indicated an altitude of 90miles (146kilometers) and a velocity of 13,245mph (21,317kph) but then the issues disappointed the company – and the crowds gathered on the southern tip of Texas.
SpaceX had made improvements to the spacecraft for the latest demo and added a fleet of satellite mockups. The test satellites were the same size as SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites and, like the spacecraft, were meant to be destroyed upon entry.
Musk plans to launch actual Starlinks on Starships before moving on to other satellites and, eventually, crews. It was the seventh test flight for the world’s biggest 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 the newest supersized rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, successfully placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. But the first-stage booster was destroyed, missing its targeted landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic.