The biggest and most powerful rocket ever made exploded moments after it was launched by SpaceX.
The nearly 400-foot (120-metre) Starship, created by Elon Musk's SpaceX, blasted off from the southern tip of Texas in the US.
Although the rocket successfully launched and made it into the air, the booster rocket, Super Heavy, appeared to have failed to separate.
It carried no people or satellites and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite the explosion, or "rapid unscheduled disassembly" as SpaceX put it, the firm is taking the launch as a success.
"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary," the company tweeted.
The plan called for the booster to separate from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen.
The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf.
The spacecraft was meant to continue east after separating and attempt the circle the world before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.
SpaceX boss Musk said they have "learned a lot" and is looking ahead to the next launch int he coming months.
Earlier, Musk gave 50-50 odds of the spacecraft reaching orbit on its debut.
It comes days after the rocket's planned launch was scrapped at the last minute due to an issue with a frozen valve.
In a tweet sent minutes before the rocket was supposed to lift off on Monday, Elon Musk said: “A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today.”
He added that the team had "learnt a lot" and would "retry in a few days".
The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
Nasa has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.
Last night, hundreds of space fans returned to the launch site at Boca Chica Beach in the hopes of seeing the launch today.
“I've been waiting for this, really, for years,” Bob Drwal told The Associated Press.
The retired engineer said he drove almost 1,500 miles from Chicago to southern Texas to witness the spectacle along with his wife Donna.
"Rapid unscheduled disassembly" might be my favourite line of 2023.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
From the updates I've seen it looks like the launch pad itself may have been an issue. They were hoping to launch from a fairly minimalistic pad but it seems like that wasn't enough as the rocket gouged a crater into the launch area and kicked up rocks and debris that may have ultimately doomed the launch.
That sounds like the same problem they foresaw when designing the Sea Dragon, that no launchpad would survive the rocket exhaust so they sidestepped the issue. But it wouldn't be the first time that damage sustained during the launch doomed the vehicle, like what happened with Columbia.
EnterpriseSovereign wrote: ↑2023-04-21 06:49pm
That sounds like the same problem they foresaw when designing the Sea Dragon, that no launchpad would survive the rocket exhaust so they sidestepped the issue. But it wouldn't be the first time that damage sustained during the launch doomed the vehicle, like what happened with Columbia.
I also think they wanted to test how it would work leaving a minimally prepared site on Mars which is another concern for the design.
"This statement, in its utterly clueless hubristic stupidity, cannot be improved upon. I merely quote it in admiration of its perfection." - Garibaldi
"Problem is, while the Germans have had many mea culpas and quite painfully dealt with their history, the South is still hellbent on painting themselves as the real victims. It gives them a special place in the history of assholes" - Covenant
"Over three million died fighting for the emperor, but when the war was over he pretended it was not his responsibility. What kind of man does that?'' - Saburo Sakai
So what I'm hearing is that they had maybe legit reasons for launching despite the risks and that Musk very possibly isn't lying when he says they learned enough to count it as a success in the long-term?
Like I said. I don't think people join SpaceX to not launch the largest rocket ever made.
If one of the problems was 'no launch pad could survive', then launching it to find out just how powerful the rocket actually is (because while math is accurate, sometimes you just can't account for all the variables...), knowing it would destroy the launch pad it was on, makes sense.
Once you know how powerful the design actually is, and what kind of damage it would inflict, you start designing a launch pad that can handle it.
I've been asked why I still follow a few of the people I know on Facebook with 'interesting political habits and view points'.
It's so when they comment on or approve of something, I know what pages to block/what not to vote for.
Apparently it was Musk's decision to have a solid concrete launch pad. Instead of all the things other rocket companies do to have their launch pads survive launches. I hope the FAA requires a better launch pad for the next launch.
Company CEO Elon Musk said the 394-foot-tall rocket took 40 seconds to respond to the self-destruct command—an interminable amount of time for a safety feature.
By Passant Rabie
Published Yesterday
During its inaugural flight, SpaceX’s wayward rocket did not immediately respond to an automated self-destruct command as it began spiraling in the skies. That’s problematic, as launch providers need to demonstrate the ability to quickly destroy their rockets during launch to protect populated areas.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently revealed new details about Starship’s less-than-perfect orbital test flight, which he still deemed as a success. During a Twitter audio chat on Saturday night, Musk said that 40 seconds had passed before the self-destruct command actually worked, causing the rocket to blow up above the Gulf of Mexico, The New York Times reported.
The largest rocket ever built blasted off on April 20 from Boca Chica, Texas for its first test flight. After clearing the launch pad, Starship began showing erratic flight behavior, fumbling around in an uncontrolled manner after a few of its engines failed before finally exploding with a fiery flame. “Obviously not a complete success,” Musk said during the Twitter audio chat, according to The New York Times. “But still nonetheless successful.”
With all things considered, even a slight 40 second delay to a self-destruct command is a big deal when dealing with a new megarocket on an experimental flight. The 394-foot-tall rocket was nearly 40 miles (64 kilometers) above the Gulf of Mexico when it exploded, having departed from the Boca Chica launch facility some four minutes earlier.
Had the self-destruct sequence not worked at all, the rocket would’ve likely fallen into the ocean. But what would have happened had the rocket, in the seconds following launch, veered toward nearby populated areas? It’s scary to think about, and something the Federal Aviation Administration will want to look into.
In true SpaceX fashion, the company is ready to see its massive rocket take to the skies once more. “Hopefully, we’ll be ready to fly again in a couple months,” Musk said during Saturday’s chat, SpaceNews reported. That timeline was reiterated by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who seemed confident in SpaceX’s ambitious timeline during a recent hearing before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Despite NASA’s vote of confidence, SpaceX still needs the green light from the FAA, which has grounded Starship pending an ongoing investigation into its botched flight.
Musk downplayed concerns regarding Starship’s ability to fly again soon. “Overall, I actually feel like that was a great flight,” Musk said, according to SpaceNews. “The outcome was roughly sort of what I expected and maybe slightly exceeded my expectations.” He added that three of the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines failed because “the system didn’t think they were healthy enough to bring them to full thrust.”
The SpaceX CEO is hopeful that Starship will reach orbit in 2023, and expects that the company will spend around $2 billion on its megarocket this year without the need to raise additional funding, Business Insider reported based on the Twitter audio chat.
SpaceX is anxious to get Starship operational; the company is under a $2.89 billion contract to use the megarocket in landing humans on the Moon by late 2025 as part of NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, and then again for Artemis 4 in 2028, under a separate $1.15 billion contract signed last year. The company is also banking on Starship delivering its upgraded next-generation Starlink satellites to orbit to meet growing demand for its broadband network.
Starship’s first test flight may not have been without its flaws, but it did prove the rocket’s ability to liftoff and fly for four minutes, which was more than what SpaceX had hoped for. Before the company decides to launch its megarocket for a second time, however, SpaceX will need to remedy the rocket and construct the required protective infrastructure at the launch mount. During the inaugural launch, Starship’s engines kicked up a horrendous amount of dust and debris, which rained down on surrounding areas.
