SpaceX’s Starship unmanned spacecraft, created to carry astronauts to the moon and beyond, failed in space shortly after liftoff on Saturday, aborting its second test. But it managed to go further than the previous attempt.
The two-stage rocket launcher was launched from the Elon Musk-owned company’s Starbase launch site near Boca Chica, Texas, helping to launch the Starship spacecraft 148 kilometres above the ground in a planned 90-minute test mission into space and back to Earth.
However, about 8 minutes into the launch, contact with Starship was lost and a faint explosion was seen on the livestream.
Unlike the first test which reached only 38 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, this time Starship reached space and at the moment of the explosion was at an altitude of about 148 kilometres.
Although the mission was not completed, it was considered a success by both SpaceX and NASA.
In the test SpaceX tried for the first time a separation technique that the Russians have been using for years. The separation of the Super Heavy with the Starship called “hot staging”. In it, Starship’s engines were turned on before it separated from the rocket to increase overall power, and by the time the Super Heavy exploded, Starship was already well away.
