SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, took off today for a second test flight but was believed to have failed minutes later. SpaceX conducted the second test launch of Starship with the booster and the spaceship exploded after separation, AFP news agency reported.
The booster successfully separated from the ship, but exploded shortly afterwards, while the ship remained on course.
The two-stage rocket ship took off from Elon Musk’s Starbase launch site near Boca Chica, Texas, for a planned 90-minute flight into space.
But contact was lost about 10 minutes after takeoff, a broadcaster told Reuters news agency.
“We lost the data from the second stage… we think we may have lost the second stage,” SpaceX livestream host John Insprucker said.
“As you could see, the super-heavy booster just underwent a rapid, unplanned disassembly, but our ship is still underway,” an announcer said.
The event was streamed live on both SpaceX’s website and Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.
SpaceX hailed today’s rocket launch as incredibly successful by SpaceX engineers, despite the superheavy booster suffering what’s known as “a rapid, unplanned disassembly.”
“What an incredibly successful day,” said a SpaceX announcer. “Even though we had a… rapid, unplanned disassembly of both the superheavy booster and the ship.”
SpaceX has insisted that explosions during the early stages of rocket development are welcome and help determine design choices more quickly than ground tests.
The second launch was more successful than the company’s first attempt in April, and all data collected today will be used to influence future adjustments to the rocket, the company said.
The goal was to get Starship off the ground in Texas and into space just before it reached orbit, then plunge through Earth’s atmosphere for a landing off the coast of Hawaii. The launch was previously scheduled for Friday but was postponed due to a last-minute exchange of flight control hardware.
During the April 20 test flight, the spacecraft blew itself up in less than four minutes in a planned 90-minute flight that went awry from the start. The first launch also caused extensive damage to the company’s launch pad at Starbase.
(With input from agencies)