A SpaceX Starship prototype took off from southern Texas on Wednesday, climbed to an altitude of six miles, toppled sideways as planned, and plunged back to Earth in a high-altitude swan dive, turning upright and landing successfully close to the launch pad. A few minutes later, it exploded into a spectacular fireball.
It was the company’s third high-altitude starship test flight and its first successful landing. But the rocket stopped with a slight tilt and a fire could be seen at its base near the engine compartment. Moments later, the unmanned prototype – SN10 – exploded, spewing burning debris over the platform.
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Despite the explosion, the successful landing was an important milestone for SpaceX founder Elon Musk in his effort to develop a fully reusable heavy lift rocket, even showing the risks that come with an aggressive test program.
“The SpaceX team is doing a great job! One day, the real measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace,” tweeted Musk.
Speaking just before SpaceX ended its launch webcast – and before the rocket exploded – company commentator John Insprucker said, “the third time is charm, as the saying goes.”
“We had a successful soft touch on the airstrip, crowning a beautiful test flight from spacecraft 10,” he said. “As a reminder, a key point of today’s test flight was to gather data on vehicle control during re-entry, and we were successful in doing so.”
He ended by congratulating the Texas launch team, saying “they have constantly increased the test launch cadence throughout the program and have performed some of the most exciting test flights that many of us have seen in a long time.”
Given three dramatic launches and consecutive explosions, few would argue.
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Mirroring the two previous unsuccessful test flights, the prototype of the starship, known as serial number 10 or SN10 for short, took off from the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas at 6:14 pm ET and climbed through an almost clear sky using three SpaceX-Raptor engines designed.
The takeoff took place about two hours after the engines were started for an initial launch attempt, but they shut down on command from the computer an instant later. Musk said the software engine’s thrust limits are “slightly conservative”, the engineers made an adjustment and the team moved on with a second launch attempt.
Burning liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen, the climb seemed to go smoothly, and as the rocket gained altitude, one engine, then two, shut down as planned.
Reaching a maximum altitude of about six miles four and a half minutes after takeoff, the third engine shut down and the starship promptly tilted sideways and began to dive back to Earth.
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Using computer-controlled fins on the nose and tail to help maintain its orientation, Starship conducted a horizontal dive, monitored by powerful cameras operated by SpaceX and several independent space enthusiasts.
As it approached the ground, the spacecraft’s engines were restarted and the rocket returned to vertical as programmed to tap the tail using a single engine. Despite a slight tilt and the briefly seen flame at the base of the rocket, the test flight appeared to be a complete success.
“As we approached the airstrip, we successfully lit the three Raptor engines to perform that flip maneuver and then shut down two of them and landed with the only engine as planned,” said Insprucker. “A nice smooth Starship landing on the airstrip in Boca Chica.”
He said that Starship SN11 is “ready to launch in the very near future. It is an inspiring moment for the future of human space flight”.
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The rocket launched on Wednesday is a prototype for the second stage of a giant rocket made of a 60-meter high “Super Heavy” first stage, generating 16 million pounds of thrust with 28 Raptor engines, more than double the power of NASA’s legendary Saturn 5-moon rocket. A first-stage prototype has not yet been completed.
The second 160-foot stage of the rocket, also confusingly known as the Starship, will use half a dozen Raptor engines capable of propelling 100 tons of payload into low Earth orbit. For comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket can put about 30 tons in orbit.
As with the two most recent test flights of Starships, SN10 was a prototype of the second stage of the Starship, this one using only three Raptor engines.
At least three versions of the starship are planned: one to carry payloads to Earth orbit, the moon or Mars; one designed to transport propellants for orbital refueling operations; and one capable of carrying up to 100 passengers at the same time.