Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship Rocket Explodes During Texas Test
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its first Starship rocket on Thursday morning, but it exploded during a mid-flight failure over Texas.
“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” the private space exploration company wrote on Twitter. “Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test.”
The company wrote that with the failed test, the firm will “learn” from its mistakes. “Today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” it said.
“Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship!” SpaceX wrote.
Live video footage of the test showed the rocket traveling for several minutes before the rocket appeared to fail. The unmanned rocket later exploded in midair.
Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. Both the booster and spacecraft on top were to be ditched into the sea.
After the failed test, Musk has not issued a public response.
Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. Space’s first try to launch the rocket was called off Monday because of a stuck valve in the rocket during fueling.
T-0 in 4 mins pic.twitter.com/LIMFFjQwXz
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys. It was the second launch attempt. Monday’s try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is a breaking news article. Check back for more developments.
