SpaceX Rocket Reaches Space but Fails to Land Safely After Test Flight Spinout
The crash site for the debris was intentionally located in the Indian Ocean where there are no habited regions.
SpaceX Rocket Reaches Space but Fails to Land Safely After Test Flight Spinout
The SpaceX Starship rocket reached space during its latest flight but failed to return to Earth completely.
The upper-stage vehicle achieved a smooth coast through space on Tuesday which showed substantial improvement compared to the failed January and March test flights. The spacecraft developed a propellant leak during the middle part of its journey. During the middle phase of its mission the spacecraft experienced a propellant leak. The Starship vehicle suffered structural break-up during reentry because it could not withstand the intense atmospheric heat.
The spacecraft's destruction resulted in debris falling into the Indian Ocean away from populated areas by intentional design.
SpaceX engineers need to continue working on Starship especially the upper-stage vehicle to ensure frequent reuse before the spacecraft can advance Elon Musk's vision of Mars colonization.
SpaceX skipped several planned test activities during the flight sequence number nine.
In a conversation with Tim Dodd from the “Everyday Astronaut” video podcast several hours before launch Musk declared the re-entry portion of the test flight as “by far the most important thing.” SpaceX implemented multiple heat protection designs on the spacecraft's underside to determine which one performed best.
“It’s all about the tiles,” Musk said.
The data collection failed due to the spacecraft spinning at that time, necessitating another attempt at testing during the subsequent flight.
The flight achieved progress despite lifting off from Starbase, Texas at approximately 7:37 pm Eastern.
The company resolved the engineering issues that led to the spacecraft's explosion during launch in previous test flights.
After the flight concluded Musk celebrated on X the fact Starship reached the scheduled ship engine cutoff which represented a substantial advancement since the last flight.The main tank pressure dropped due to leaks as the spacecraft coasted and re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
The mission used a booster from a previous January test flight which marked significant progress towards demonstrating an orbital vehicle capable of multiple launches.
