SpaceX's highly anticipated test flight of its Starship mega rocket took a disappointing turn on Saturday when the booster and spacecraft were lost minutes into the flight. The booster had successfully sent the rocketship toward space, but communication was lost eight minutes after liftoff from South Texas, and SpaceX declared that the vehicle had failed.
The setback of losing Starship represents a significant challenge for SpaceX, a company that has dedicated several years to the development of this rocket. Although not a complete failure, the attempt did achieve specific milestones.
Here are some key facts and insights obtained from this mission:
As per its website, SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively referred to as Starship, represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Also Read | SpaceX Launches Giant New Rocket, But Loses It Minutes Into Flight
Starship is the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable.
Starship stands as the largest and most powerful rocket ever constructed, towering at a height of nearly 400 feet. When the two stages of Starship are combined, the rocket stands 397 feet (121 meters) tall, beating the Statue of Liberty by a comfortable 90 feet. Its Super Heavy booster produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 meganewtons) of thrust, almost double that of the world's second-most powerful rocket, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), though the latter is now fully operational.
According to CNN, the rocket made it much further into its flight profile than during the first flight attempt in April, when Starship began tumbling tail-over-head about four minutes after liftoff. The Starship never even separated from the Super Heavy booster during that test.
This time, however, SpaceX did achieve that milestone: About two and a half minutes into flight, the Starship powered up its engines and successfully broke away using a brand new method called "hot staging."
"Starship gave us quite a show during today's first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas," SpaceX said in a statement on its website.
"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and we learned a tremendous amount about the vehicle and ground systems today that will help us improve on future flights of Starship," the American spacecraft manufacturer said.
