Constellation Research founder Ray Wang discusses Google and Ford’s “strategic” partnership, Tesla’s value and Amazon and Google’s earnings reports.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it will oversee the investigation of Tuesday’s “landing accident” involving SpaceX’s Starship SN9 rocket prototype.
The SN9 starship crashed during a test flight on Tuesday, which exploded near the launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas, falling from the sky and bursting into flames before disintegrating on the surface.
“Although this was a test flight without screws, the investigation will identify the root cause of today’s accident and possible opportunities to further increase safety as the program unfolds,” added an FAA spokesman.
SPACEX ANNOUNCES THE FIRST ‘ALL CIVIL MISSION IN THE WORLD TO ORBIT THE EARTH’
The video shows the rocket failing to stabilize as it struggled to return to the landing area, coming in strong and crooked to explode as it plummeted toward the ground.
“We again had another great flight to the heyday of 10 kilometers, we demonstrated the ability to transition the engines to the landing propulsion tanks … we just have to do a little work on that landing,” said SpaceX engineer John Insprucker during a Live broadcast 15 minutes from launch. “And a reminder, this is a test flight – for the second time we flew the starship in this configuration. We have a lot of data. “
The explosion occurs about 12 minutes and 50 seconds in the stream. The impact makes a huge bang and sends a huge cloud of dust and smoke into the sky.
“We will be back with another starship in the near future,” Insprucker added.
‘ESCAPE PODS’ FROM SPACEX, AIRBNB, TESLA ALUMNI ARE SCI-FI INSPIRED FOR CAMPERS
Another test flight in December yielded similar results – with the rocket stabilizing on its return, but falling too fast and exploding on the launch pad. The Federal Aviation Administration said earlier this week that SpaceX had conducted this test without permission, in violation of its launch license.
The FAA told FOX Business that the agency required SpaceX to conduct an investigation into the Decmeber incident involving the SpaceX SN8 spacecraft, including a “comprehensive review of the company’s safety culture, operational decision-making and process discipline” .
“All tests that could affect public safety at the Boca Chica launch site were suspended until the investigation was completed and the FAA approved the company’s corrective actions,” said the FAA.
The FAA noted that corrective actions were incorporated into Tuesday’s launch of SN9 and that it provides for “no further enforcement action on the SN8 issue.”
DISCOVER FOX BUSINESS ON THE MOVE BY CLICKING HERE
The Starship is a 16-story space vehicle that SpaceX founder Elon Musk hopes to use to send humans from the Moon to Mars for the first time.
The rocket was designed to be a reusable vehicle.
The successor to the SN9, the starship SN10, is reportedly almost completed.