SpaceX failed again. The most powerful rocket exploded in space

On Saturday, November 18, it conducted the second test of its most important Starship space rocket. At 14:03 Polish time it took off. She had a twenty-minute window to start. after approximately three minutes, it began the vehicle separation stage. Unfortunately, the Super Heavy amplifier, which was supposed to land safely in Ograde, exploded. describes it turning into a ball of fire over the Gulf of Mexico. The rest of the rocket continued to fly as planned, reaching an increasing speed towards space. However, a few minutes after reaching space, the rocket was unable to continue its flight.

And it was already good! The SpaceX rocket flew into space, but it exploded there

When Starship was about to enter its next stage, John Insprucker, a SpaceX live broadcast host, said that “data from the second stage was lost.” The ship couldn’t re-enter orbit, so SpaceX was forced to activate its “flight termination system,” a self-destruct function designed to prevent the ship from veering off course. This means that this time the Starship rose much higher than during the first attempt, but its flight ended with another explosion.

Let us recall that the first test of this rocket also ended in failure, but, as we read on the website, “it provided many conclusions that directly contributed to several improvements to both the vehicle and the ground infrastructure to increase the likelihood of success of future flights.” During the second flight test, the “hot stage separation system and new electronic thrust vector control (TVC) system for the Super Heavy Raptor engines were to be demonstrated, as well as strengthening of the base pads and a water-cooled steel flame deflector, among many other improvements,” SpaceX reports.

A powerful rocket that will take people to the Moon and Mars

Starship is to be the most powerful private space rocket in history and is intended to be a multi-purpose vehicle. SpaceX estimates that the ship will be able to carry a 100-ton payload to low Earth orbit or carry up to 100 astronauts into space. However, the most exciting future Starship missions are the announced flights to the Moon – and in the longer term – also to Mars. The ship is expected to take NASA astronauts to the lunar surface and then return them to Earth later this decade. it also plans to use Starship to build the first bases on Mars, but we will certainly have to wait a while for that.

Much earlier, Starship is to take into space the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who hired SpaceX to carry out the first-ever private flight around the Moon. According to the company’s previous announcements, Maezawa and eight people chosen by him are to go on a Starship trip this year, although this plan seems unrealistic for now. It is worth recalling that the first manned flight to the Moon’s orbit since Apollo is also planned. However, the launch of this mission (Artemis 2) is scheduled for November 2024. The American space agency plans to land on the Silver Globe (Artemis 3) in December 2025.