SpaceX megarocket takes off on first test flight, but then explodes What did Musk say?

The world’s largest rocket, Starship, developed by SpaceX for trips to the Moon and Mars, exploded shortly after takeoff, but this first test flight was celebrated by the company’s owner, Elon Musk, who foresees a new launch “in a few months”.

To cheers from employees, the black and silver two-stage megarocket, taller than the 120-meter Statue of Liberty, successfully lifted off at 8:33 a.m. local time (1333 GMT) from the spaceport and test center. SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, east of Brownsville, Texas, for what was to be a 90-minute flight and its debut in space. But soon after it exploded.

“Congratulations to the SpaceX team on an exciting Starship test launch! We have learned a lot for the next test release in a few monthsMusk tweeted.

SpaceX livestreamed the liftoff over the internet, showing the rocket rising from the launch tower into the morning sky as the Super Heavy’s 33 raptor engines roared into a ball of flame and clouds of exhaust and water vapor.

However, less than four minutes into the flight, the upper stage of the starship it failed to separate from the lower Super Heavy as planned, and the combined vehicle was seen to spin on itself before exploding.

The cause of the explosion is not yet known. The purpose of this test flight was to collect as much data as possible to improve the following prototypes. A first pitch attempt in the final minutes of the countdown was canceled on Monday due to a technical problem.

“This is the first flight of a huge and very complex rocketMusk had said on Sunday, calling the test “very risky”.

The US space agency, NASA, chose the spacecraft starship to transport astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972. The mission, known as Artemis III, is scheduled for late 2025.

The boss of the POT, bill nelsonpraised SpaceX. “Every great achievement in history has required some level of calculated risk.” he tweeted, saying he was “anxious” for the next test.

With 120 meters, starship it was taller than NASA’s new megarocket, SLS (98 m), which launched for the first time in November, and the legendary Saturn V, the rocket of the Apollo lunar program (111 m).

starship It consisted of a powerful first stage, called Super Heavy and equipped with 33 engines, and a second stage, the Starship spacecraft, which by extension gave the entire rocket its name.

SpaceX it had successfully conducted a test firing of all 33 engines in February, but Super Heavy and Starship had never flown together. The test flight was intended to assess its performance in full configuration.

fear of an explosion

On Thursday, the flight plan was as follows: About three minutes after takeoff, the Super Heavy booster would separate from starship and would fall into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. But this separation did not take place and the rocket exploded.

If the separation had been successful, starshipwhich had six of its own engines, was to have continued its ascent to an altitude of more than 150 kilometers, before falling into the Pacific after completing an almost complete orbit of the Earth.

But getting through all these steps on the first test flight would have been quite a feat.

Musk had tempered expectations, saying it was unlikely to reach orbit on the first try. He indicated to hope at least that the launch pad was not destroyed by the explosion of the Super Heavy’s engines upon ignition, as rebuilding it could take “months”.

starship it must be able to carry and launch up to 150 tons of cargo into orbit. By comparison, the Falcon 9 rocket, also from SpaceX, can only carry just over 22 tons to low-Earth orbit.

But the real innovation of starship is that it must be fully reusable, something Musk believes can be achieved in “two to three years.”

In this first test, there was not going to be an attempt to recover either of the two stages of the rocket, but eventually, yes.

“We’ve designed Starship to be as close to airline operations as possible”, explained Gwynne Shotwell, president and COO of SpaceX, in February.

The idea of ​​a reusable launcher, the grand strategy of Musk, is to lower prices. every flight of starship could ultimately cost alone”a few millionof dollars, he pointed out.

This is an imperative for the billionaire, who believes that humans will need hundreds of rockets. starship to have the possibility of becoming a multiplanetary species.

With information from AFP and Reuters