SpaceX launched its seventh test flight of its Spacecraft rocket on Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a booster shot on the platform.
Elon MuskThe company said Starship broke apart, calling it a “rapid and unplanned disassembly.” The rocket seemed to take off from SpaceX launch pad at its Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, but eight and a half minutes into the mission, ground control announced it had lost all communication with the ship.
Flights near the Turks and Caicos Islands were spotted diverting to avoid debris from Thursday’s explosion and images of debris falling from the sky in the region were shared.
Musk shared a video falling debris, writing: “Success is uncertain, but fun is guaranteed!”
The Federal Aviation Administration announced a brief slowdown in flights in and around the Florida area due to possible falling debris during the launch.
The spacecraft was supposed to fly over the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near-loop around the world, similar to previous tests. SpaceX packed the new and improved model with 10 dummy satellites to practice releasing them.
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A minute before the loss, SpaceX used the launch tower’s giant mechanical arms to catch the returning booster, a feat achieved only once before. The super-heavy booster descending from the first stage hovered above the launch pad before being grabbed by the pair of robotic arms, nicknamed wands.
There were no astronauts on board the test flight mission and the last data received from the spacecraft indicated an altitude of 146 kilometers and a speed of 13,245 km/h.
“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak into the cavity above the ship’s engine firewall that was large enough to create pressure in excess of wind capacity,” Musk wrote on Nothing so far suggests pushing the next launch beyond next month.
It was the seventh test flight of the world’s largest and most powerful rocket. THE mission marked for the second time that SpaceX was able to return and catch the stage booster using the launch tower.
NASA has earmarked a pair of spacecraft to land astronauts on the Moon later this decade, while Musk’s ultimate goal is Mars.
It also plans to launch actual Starlinks on spacecraft before moving on to other satellites and, eventually, crews.
—With files from The Associated Press
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