A SpaceX spacecraft prototype fired from southern Texas on Wednesday, climbed to an altitude of six miles, tilted on its side as planned, and plunged back to Earth in a large swan dive, rolled back vertically and then successfully landed at launch path. A few minutes later, it exploded in a spectacular fireball.
It was the company’s third major Starship test flight and its first successful landing. However, the missile came to rest with a slight tilt and fire could be seen at the base near the engine compartment. Moments later, the unmanned prototype – SN10 – blew up, leaving flaming debris on the pillow.
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Despite the explosion, the successful landing marked a major milestone for SpaceX founder Elon Musk in his quest to develop a fully reusable heavy lift rocket, even as he demonstrated the risks associated with an aggressive testing program.
“The SpaceX team is doing a great job! One day the true measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace,” Musk tweeted.
Just before SpaceX completed its launch webcast – and before the rocket exploded – corporate commentator John Insprucker said, “Third time is the charm, as the saying goes.”
“We had a successful soft touchdown on the landing pad, covering a beautiful test flight of Starship 10,” he said. “As a reminder, a key point of today’s test flight was to collect data on how to drive the vehicle on re-entry, and we succeeded.”
He concluded by congratulating the Texas launch team saying “They have steadily increased the test launch cadence over the course of the program and delivered some of the most exciting test flights many of us have seen in a long time.”
Given three dramatic launches and explosions in a row, few would argue.
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Following on from the two previous failed test flights, the Starship prototype, known as serial number 10 or SN10 for short, was launched at 6:14 p.m. ET from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas launch site and climbed away through a mostly clear sky using three SpaceX-designed Raptor engines.
The launch came about two hours after the engines ignited for an initial take-off attempt, but was shut down a moment later on computer command. Musk said the software engine thrust limits were “somewhat conservative,” engineers made an adjustment, and the team pushed ahead with a second launch attempt.
Burning liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen made the ascent appear to go smoothly, and as the rocket gained altitude, one engine and then two shut down as planned.
Reaching a maximum altitude of about six miles four-and-a-half minutes after launch, the third engine stopped and the Starship promptly tilted on its side and began to plunge back to Earth.
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Using computer-controlled nose and tail fins to maintain its orientation, the Starship performed a horizontal dive, followed all the way by high-powered cameras piloted by SpaceX and multiple independent space enthusiasts.
As it approached the ground, the Starship’s engines restarted and the missile flipped back to vertical, as programmed for a tail-first landing using a single engine. Despite a slight tilt and the momentary flame at the base of the rocket, the test flight proved to be a great success.
“As we approached the landing pad, we successfully lit the three Raptor engines to perform that flip maneuver and then took out two and landed on the single engine as planned,” said Insprucker. “A beautiful soft landing from Starship on the landing pad at Boca Chica.”
He said Starship SN11 is “poised to roll out to the path in the very near future. It is an inspiring time for the future of manned space flight.”
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Launched Wednesday, the rocket is a second stage prototype giant rocket consisting of a 230-foot high “Super Heavy” first stage generating 16 million pounds of thrust with 28 Raptor engines, more than twice the power of NASA’s. legendary Saturn 5 moon rocket. A prototype of the first phase has not yet been completed.
The rocket’s 160-foot second stage, also confusingly known as Starship, will use half a dozen Raptor engines capable of delivering 100 tons of payload to low Earth orbit. In comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket can put about 30 tons into orbit.
As with the two most recent Starships test flights, SN10 was a prototype of the Starship second stage, this one with only three Raptor engines.
At least three versions of the spaceship are envisioned: one for carrying heavy payloads to orbit the Earth, the Moon, or Mars; one designed to carry propellants for space refueling operations; and one that can carry up to 100 passengers at a time.