By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
BOCA CHICA, Texas | Well, it went up, up and away. And then it blew up. SpaceX's massive, 33-engine rocket lifted off shortly after 8:00 AM, rose majestically and then, as it seemed to go into the beyond, was destroyed. No, it was not a manned flight.
Deemed a successful launch, the rocket ship nonetheless has its work still to be done before it can hope to fly American astronauts to the moon and to Mars, as promised.
This from the Associated Press: [ SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship but lost both the booster and the spacecraft in a pair of explosions minutes into Saturday’s test flight. The rocketship reached space following liftoff from South Texas, but communication suddenly was lost. SpaceX officials said it appears the ship’s self-destruct system blew it up over the Gulf of Mexico.
The flight came to an end as the ship’s engines were almost done firing to put it on an around-the-world path. The first test flight in April also ended in an explosion.
About three minutes into flight, the separated booster also exploded over the gulf. By then, though, its job was done. Despite the failure, the approximately eight-minute flight lasted twice as long as April’s test. At nearly 400 feet, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, with the goal of ferrying people to the moon and Mars.
"The real topping on the cake today, that successful liftoff," said SpaceX commentator John Insprucker.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk watched from behind launch controllers at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border, near Boca Chica Beach. At company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, employees cheered as Starship finally soared at daybreak. The room grew quiet once it was clear that the spaceship had been destroyed and crashed into the gulf. The booster also ended up in the gulf.
SpaceX had been aiming for an altitude of 150 miles, just high enough to send the bullet-shaped spacecraft around the globe before ditching into the Pacific near Hawaii about 90 minutes after liftoff, short of a full orbit. ]
It's yet another step in the overall mission.
We'll see where it goes from here...
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spectacular liftoff!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm old enough (82) to remember the young NASA program, many never made it off the launching pad. The fact that this civilian space program has accomplished so much in such a short time in amazing.
ReplyDeleteFirst stage worked perfectly. Not sure of cause of destruction after but did its main job. 2nd stage as well worked great right up until it self-terminated. This was only a test and they gathered tons of data. Next flight will be even better.
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