SpaceX’s Starship exploded moments after liftoff from SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas on Thursday (January 16). The 403-foot-tall rocket lifted off successfully and the first-stage booster returned to the launch site and was caught by launch tower’s arms, which SpaceX called Mechazilla.
However, about eight minutes into the flight, one of the ship’s three inner engines flamed out, CNN reported. About a minute later, five of the ship’s six engines were offline. About 10 minutes later SpaceX’s Dan Huot and Kate Tice, confirmed that Starship was lost.
“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.,” SpaceX wrote on X.
The test flight featured a new generation of the Starship with significant upgrades, including a payload of ten replica Starlink satellites.
The explosion was a setback, but SpaceX is known for its rapid development and testing process. The company plans to incorporate lessons learned from this flight into future builds. SpaceX’s goal is to make the Starship fully reusable, with plans to use it for missions to the Moon and Mars. The test was part of ongoing efforts to refine the spacecraft’s design and capabilities.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took the destruction of the Starship in stride, posting a video of the spectacular explosion on X.
“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed! ✨,” he wrote.
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