Not to be outdone, commercial space Goliath SpaceX snatched another rocket out of midair in the late afternoon. SpaceX, controlled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, tested its huge Starship launch vehicle on Thursday afternoon.
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
The rocket company said the space vehicle came apart during its ascent. Videos posted to social media showed debris streaking through the sky.
Starship's previous six test flights occurred in April and November of 2023 and March, June, October and November of last year. SpaceX aimed to conduct a chopsticks catch of Super Heavy on Flight 6 as well, but a communication issue with the launch tower nixed that try, and the booster diverted for a Gulf of Mexico splashdown.
One of the big firsts in 2024 came from SpaceX as it finally managed to fly its Starship into space without blowing up. That's not bad for the world's largest rocket, which dwarfs even the Apollo era Saturn V,
The "rapid unscheduled disassembly" was likely caused by a propellant leak, Elon Musk said, and was captured on video by spectators on the ground.
The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights. SpaceX had packed it with 10 dummy satellites for practice at
SpaceX readies its seventh test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever designed. The trial will test upgrades to the spacecraft and deploy mock satellites.
While SpaceX is not the sole new launch company, it has set the pace for reducing the cost and increasing the reliability of space launches.
While Elon Musk’s spaceflight company repeated a spectacular catch of its powerful booster stage, the upper stage experienced a catastrophic malfunction.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is collaborating with SpaceX and other authorities to verify reports of damage to public property on the Turks and Caicos Islands. This investigation follows the dramatic failure of SpaceX’s Starship rocket,