The seventh test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket failed on Thursday when the rocket's upper stage suffered a catastrophic failure en route to space.
SpaceX was able to achieve some success by repeating the feat of returning its massive super-heavy booster to its launch pad.
But then data showed that some of the engines in the upgraded long version of the upper stage stopped midway. About eight and a half minutes after liftoff, communications between the ground and the upper spacecraft, known as Starship, were cut off.
“I can confirm that we lost the ship,” said Kate Tice, one of the hosts of SpaceX's launch video stream.
A video posted on social media site X shows debris falling from the sky over the Caribbean Sea, possibly from a disintegrated rocket.
Starship is a rocket that company founder Elon Musk claims will one day take people to Mars. NASA is also paying SpaceX to develop a vehicle to return American astronauts to the moon.
In its first six test flights, SpaceX demonstrated that it can launch the largest rocket ever into space and return it to Earth largely intact. Over the next year, the company hopes to turn “more or less” into “definitely” and prove other capabilities. SpaceX has requested that the maximum number of Starship launches allowed per year from its Starbase launch facility in South Texas be increased from five to 25.
Previous test flights, while not perfect, showed steady progress from one to the next. This seventh flight was the first to not repeat all the milestones achieved on the previous flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved multiple launches of the current Starship configuration and did not require an investigation into specific failures that may occur during test flights.
However, the rocket failure occurred during ascent, resulting in a shower of debris, and the FAA may require SpaceX to investigate the cause before allowing the next Starship launch.
The launch took place at 5:37 p.m. ET.
After pushing the rocket through the thickest part of the atmosphere, the booster descended and returned to the launch pad. It was then successfully captured by two mechanical arms on the launch tower.
Shortly after, the upper stage of the spacecraft experienced trouble, ending the one-hour journey that was scheduled to land in the Indian Ocean.
In his own post about X, Musk shared video footage of the debris and wrote, “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
What is a starship?
The Starship rocket system is the largest ever built, at 403 feet tall, or nearly 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty, including its pedestal.
And the rocket booster has the most engines ever. The super heavy booster at the bottom of the rocket has 33 of SpaceX's powerful Raptor engines sticking out. These engines generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle as they lift Starship off its launch pad in South Texas.
The top, also known as Starship or Ship for short, looks like a shiny rocket from a 1950s science fiction movie and is made of stainless steel with large fins. This is the upper stage bound for orbit and could eventually carry humans to the moon or Mars.
What happened during the last flight?
President-elect Donald J. Trump attended the sixth test flight on Nov. 19 and visited Musk in the launch control room. The upper Starship flew in a suborbit halfway around the Earth, successfully re-entered the atmosphere, performed a landing maneuver, flipped to a vertical position, and then quietly dropped a drop of water into the Indian Ocean about an hour after liftoff.
Not unexpectedly, it then tipped over and exploded.
The booster also successfully entered the atmosphere. But SpaceX's plans to capture the feat, accomplished during its fifth test flight, were scrapped after a sensor in the mechanical arm was damaged during liftoff. The booster was diverted to the Gulf of Mexico.
What was different on the seventh flight?
Starship's seventh test flight included significant design changes to its propulsion, heat shield, and control systems. The rocket was extended several feet higher than earlier Starships, and had room for a larger tank that could hold 25% more propellant. The flaps near the top of Starship were smaller and had been moved toward the tip to reduce damage from searing heat during reentry.
While in space, the Starship was to test a new system similar to the PEZ candy dispenser. The plan was to launch 10 dummy satellites similar in size and shape to next-generation spacecraft that will be deployed on SpaceX's Starlink internet service. The dummy satellite would have followed Starship's orbit and burned up in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
When will starships be able to send people into space?
Thursday's failure will delay SpaceX's ambitious and rapid development schedule.
Even before Starship's failure, it was likely at least several years away from being ready for a manned mission. NASA plans to use a version of Starship to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027.
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payment services company Shift4 and a man who has flown into space twice on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, was scheduled to take part in Starship's first manned flight. . But Mr. Isaacman was chosen by Mr. Trump to be NASA's next administrator, so he is likely to remain in the field, at least for the time being.
