adminSpaceX’s Super Heavy Rocket booster exploded just after separation from the Starship spacecraft just minutes into its second flight test early Saturday.
The uncrewed Starship and Super Heavy Rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca, Chica, Texas at 8:03 a.m ET. Stage separation was completed just under three minutes later, amid loud cheers from SpaceX employees watching the launch. Less than a minute after separation, the Super Heavy booster exploded, or as SpaceX said, experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
The second stage, with the Starship spacecraft, continued on its flight. But at 8:14 a.m. ET a SpaceX engineer said that the company had lost data coming from the second stage, with the company ending its livestream of the flight test shortly after.
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“Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting second integrated flight test of Starship!,” tweeted SpaceX later. “Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through stage separation.”
“The booster experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation while Starship’s engines fired for several minutes on its way to space,” SpaceX added.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also tweeted his congratulations to the SpaceX team for the launch.
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In April SpaceX’s first test launch ended when the rocket exploded just minutes into its flight.
The largest rocket ever built, Starship is designed to play a key role in returning humans to the moon, as well as in future Mars exploration. The spacecraft and rocket, collectively referred to as “Starship,” are designed to carry both crew and cargo, and are capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable, according to SpaceX.
Companies such as SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance, set up in 2006 as a joint venture between Boeing Co.
BA,
and Lockheed Martin Corp.
LMT,
are ramping up their launch efforts. United Launch Alliance plans to make the first launch of its new Vulcan rocket on Dec. 24.
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The commercial space industry was worth $427.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 8% on the prior year, according to a report from space flight advocacy group the Space Foundation released in July.
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