SpaceX was close to completing an hour-long test flight of its mega-rocket on its third attempt Thursday, but the spacecraft was lost on its return to Earth.
The company said it lost contact with Starship as it approached its goal of splashing down in the Indian Ocean. The first-stage booster also broke apart, breaking apart much earlier while flying over the Gulf of Mexico after launching from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border.
“The ship is lost. Therefore, there will be no splashdown today,” said Dan Huot from SpaceX. “But again, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come this time.”
Two test flights Last year, both ended in explosions minutes after launch. This time, surviving for nearly 50 minutes, Thursday’s effort was hailed as a victory not only for SpaceX’s Elon Musk, but also for NASA, and Starship flew higher and further than ever before. The space agency is counting on Starship to land its craft. astronauts on the moon in a few more years.
The nearly 400-foot (121-meter) starship, largest and most powerful rocket ever built, headed east over the Gulf of Mexico after takeoff Thursday morning. Spectators crowded the nearby beaches of South Padre Island and Mexico.
A few minutes later, the booster separated smoothly from the spacecraft, but broke apart 1,500 feet (462 meters) above the bay rather than falling into the water intact. By that time, the spacecraft was already far to the east and continued to rise upward, without people or satellites on board.
The spacecraft reached an altitude of about 145 miles (233 kilometers), crossing the Atlantic and South Africa before approaching the Indian Ocean. But 49 minutes into the flight (only 15 minutes left), all contact was lost and the spacecraft presumably broke up.
At that time, its altitude was 40 miles (65 kilometers) and its speed was about 16,000 miles per hour (25,700 km/h).
A little earlier, Elon Musk from SpaceX congratulated his team. “SpaceX has come a long way,” he said via X, formerly Twitter. The rocket company was founded exactly 22 years ago Thursday.
NASA has been watching with great interest: the space agency needs Starship’s success to land astronauts on the Moon in the next two years or so. This new batch of rovers – the first since the Apollo program of the last century – will descend to the lunar surface on a starship after transferring from NASA’s Orion capsule to lunar orbit.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson was quick to congratulate SpaceX on its successful test flight as part of the space agency’s Artemis lunar landing program.
The stainless steel bullet-shaped spacecraft was launched atop a first-stage booster known as Super Heavy. Both the booster and spacecraft are designed to be reusable, although they were never scheduled to be scrapped Thursday.
During Starship’s first launch last April, several of the 33 methane-fueled engines failed and the booster failed to separate from the spacecraft, causing the entire craft to explode and fall into the bay four minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX managed to double the flight duration during a test launch in November. Although all 33 engines fired and the booster lifted off as planned, the flight ended with a pair of explosions, first of the booster and then of the spacecraft.
The Federal Aviation Administration reviewed all of the fixes made to Starship before approving its launch Thursday. After the flight, the FAA said it would again investigate the incident. As with the second flight, all 33 booster engines performed well during ascent, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX initially plans to use the giant rockets to launch the company’s Starlink internet satellites, as well as other spacecraft. Test pilots will go into orbit before the company sends wealthy clients around the moon and back. Musk sees the Moon as a stepping stone on the way to Mars, his main goal.
NASA is insisting that the empty Starship successfully land on the Moon before future rovers can board. The space agency plans to land the first crew on the Moon by the end of 2026 as part of the Artemis program, named after the mythological twin sister of Apollo.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Education Media Group. AP is solely responsible for all content.