The Starship was finally launched, but things didn’t go as planned. SpaceX’s largest and most powerful rocket ever launched in its first full test on April 20th from Starbase launch facility in Texas. Immediately after launch, it exploded.
It’s been a long road for Starship. Tests of smaller prototypes since 2019 have seen several successful ‘hops’ to an altitude of 10 kilometers, but have seen four malfunctions, three of which led to the destruction of her prototype. rice field.
All of these tests were on Starship’s eponymous upper prototype, part of the spacecraft that would eventually house the astronauts. The lower section, called the Super Heavy Booster, houses 33 Raptor engines that propel the Starship off the launch pad.
But less than five minutes after takeoff, something went wrong. At that point, Starship and Superheavy were to separate, but Superheavy splashed into the Gulf of Mexico and Starship continued his 90-minute flight. They did not separate and the entire spacecraft began rolling. Then it exploded.
“I don’t think anyone, including Elon Musk, thought the launch would go perfectly,” says the space analyst. Laura Folchik“If this time had been 100% successful, I would have been shocked.” .
The cause of the fall and explosion is not clear and needs to be figured out before SpaceX can decide on its next steps. There were some issues with pressurization that caused the first launch attempt on April 17 to be canceled and the launch on April 20 to be slightly delayed, but they were the reason why Starship and Super Heavy interconnected. It is unknown whether it may be related to the failure of
“SpaceX will determine what went wrong, improve the process and try again. I think you should expect multiple tests this year,” Forczyk said. “They have a lot of customers waiting for this rocket. They have NASA and private customers and they have other government interests as well, so they’re waiting for this rocket to go into service. There are many people who are
Despite the explosion, the test was not a total failure. Demonstrating that the Starship can descend from the ground, this was not taken for granted. “I don’t understand why today’s failure is such a big setback,” he says Forczyk.
This test flight was the first big step in SpaceX’s journey to other worlds. Starship is tentatively planning two manned flights of his in late 2023, aimed at carrying people to the moon and eventually Mars, but safety first and more testing. I think you need to.
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