The spacecraft exploded minutes after launch, ending the seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket. After taking off from the company’s Boca Chica facility in Texas, the incident happened over the Caribbean Sea.
This casued a major setback for the company’s ambitious space exploration efforts.
With six engines, the Starship set out on its test flight with the goal of launching ten dummy satellites into orbit. Communication with the spacecraft was lost about eight minutes into the flight.
“We did lose all communications with the ship – that is basically telling us we had an anomaly with the upper stage,” said Dan Huot, communications manager for SpaceX. The destruction of the spacecraft was confirmed by later observations.
The impact of the explosion on commercial aviation was immediate. Aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico had to change their course to steer clear of possible debris.
Flight tracking services reported that many flights were diverted or changed their courses, and Miami International Airport experienced ground delays.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, offered preliminary explanations for the accident, suggesting that a propellant leak was probably the cause.
“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.“, said Elon Musk.
Musk stressed the value of taking lessons from these kinds of mishaps, saying that every test advances the company’s goal of having a completely reusable aircrafts.
The mission was a notable success, even though the Starship was lost. The Starship was propelled during the first phase of flight by the Super Heavy booster, which made a controlled return to the launch location.
The booster was successfully captured using the mechanical arms of the launch tower, known as “chopsticks,” which was a major step forward for SpaceX’s development of reusable rocket technology.
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