Starship missile SN10 detonates eight minutes after it appears to have made a nail landing, the third prototype to be destroyed.
The third time seemed to be the charm for Elon Musk’s Starship prototype rocket, until it wasn’t.
The missile took to the air on Wednesday during a high-altitude test from Boca Chica, Texas, then flew back to Earth itself and maneuvered into its first – successful – upright landing.
But the victory was short-lived.
“A beautiful soft landing,” said a SpaceX commentator during a live broadcast of the test flight, as an automated fire extinguishing system directed a stream of water at flames still burning at the base of the rocket.
About eight minutes later, he blew himself to pieces, flung into the air, and crashed back to the ground.
#Starship landed by randomly blown up a few minutes later.#Elon Musk #SpaceX pic.twitter.com/PqZUjVkMk8
– Brandon #DiamondHands (@ClickThatFollow) March 3, 2021
There was no direct explanation for what went wrong.
SN10 was the third spaceship to be destroyed by a fireball, although it was much closer to achieving a safe, vertical touchdown than two previous models – SN8 in December and SN9 in February. The rocket is being developed by SpaceX to transport people and cargo on future missions to the Moon and Mars.
For Elon Musk, the billionaire SpaceX founder who also heads electric carmaker Tesla, the result was mixed news.
This screengrab taken from the SpaceX live webcast shows the Starship SN10 prototype as it prepares to land on the second test flight attempt of the day [Jose Romero/SpaceX via AFP]
In a tweet responding to subdued congratulations from an admirer of his work, Musk replied, “RIP SN10, honorable discharge.”
SpaceX’s video feed on the company’s YouTube channel was cut short shortly after landing. But separate feeds from fans streamed across the same social media platform showed an explosion that suddenly erupted at the base of the rocket, ejecting the SN10 into the air before it crashed to the ground and burst into flames.
The complete Starship rocket, which will be 120 meters high when connected to its super-heavy first stage booster, is SpaceX’s next-generation fully reusable launch vehicle – the center of Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel more affordable. and routine.
The first orbital Starship flight is scheduled for the end of the year.
On Wednesday, Japanese billionaire and online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, who paid an undisclosed amount for a SpaceX lunar spaceship, invited eight people from around the world to join him.
The Starship tests will take place in an almost deserted area leased by SpaceX in southern Texas, near the border with Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico.