A SpaceX Starship prototype exploded Wednesday in South Texas, climbed to an altitude of six miles, overturned on its side as planned and plunged back to Earth in a high-altitude swan dive, twisting vertically and then successfully landing near the buffer launch. A few minutes later, it exploded in 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, giving the buffer a burning residue.
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Despite the explosion, the successful landing marked a major milestone for SpaceX founder Elon Musk in his attempt to develop a fully reusable rocket, even though it showed the risks associated with an aggressive testing program.
“The SpaceX team is doing a great job! One day, the real measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace,” Musk wrote on Twitter.
Speaking just before SpaceX ended its broadcast on the Internet – and before the rocket exploded – company commentator John Insprucker said: “The third time is the charm, as the saying goes.”
“We had a successful touchdown on the landing pad, covering a beautiful test flight of the Starship 10,” he said. “As a reminder, a key point of today’s test flight was to gather vehicle control data as we re-entered and we were able to do so.”
He concluded by congratulating the Texas launch team, saying that “they have steadily increased the pace of test launches throughout the program and delivered some of the most exciting test flights many of us have seen in a long time.”
Given three dramatic releases and explosions in a row, few would argue.
SpaceX webcast
Mirroring the previous two failed test flights, the Starship prototype, known as the 10 Series or SN10 for short, came out of the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas at 18:14 ET and went up through a mostly clear skies using three SpaceX -shaped Raptor engines.
The disconnection came about two hours after the engines started for an initial launch attempt, but stopped the computer control a moment later. Musk said the traction limits of the software engine are “slightly conservative”, the engineers made an adjustment and the team continued with a second launch attempt.
Burning liquid natural gas and liquid oxygen, the ascent seemed to go smoothly, and as the rocket gained altitude, one engine, then two, stopped as planned.
Reaching a maximum altitude of about six miles four and a half minutes after takeoff, the third engine stopped and Starship immediately leaned to one side and began to throw back to Earth.
SpaceX webcast
Using computer-controlled wings at the nose and tail to maintain its orientation, Starship performed a horizontal dive, followed to the end by the powerful cameras operated by SpaceX and several independent space enthusiasts.
As it approached the ground, the Starship engines restarted and the rocket returned to vertical, as scheduled for a first tail touchdown using a single engine. Despite a slight tilt and the flame briefly seen at the base of the rocket, the test flight seemed to be a complete success.
“As we approached the landing pad, we successfully ignited the three Raptor engines to perform that flip maneuver and then stopped two of them and landed on the only engine as planned,” Insprucker said. “A beautiful soft landing of the Starship on the landing platform at Boca Chica.”
He said that Starship SN11 is “ready to launch on the platform in the very near future. It is an inspiring moment for the future of human space flight. “
SpaceX webcast
The rocket launched on Wednesday is a prototype for the second stage of a giant rocket consisting of a 230-foot-tall “Super Heavy” stage that generates 16 million pounds with 28 Raptor engines, more than double the power of the legendary NASA’s Saturn 5 lunar rockets. A prototype from the first stage has not yet been completed.
The second stage of the rocket, also known as the Starship, will use half a dozen Raptor engines capable of increasing 100 tons of payload in low Earth orbit. For comparison, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket can orbit about 30 tons.
As with the latest two Starships test flights, the SN10 was a prototype of the second stage of the Starship, using only three Raptor engines.
At least three versions of the starship are provided: one for carrying heavy payloads into Earth orbit, the moon or Mars; one designed to carry thrusters for orbital refueling operations; and one capable of carrying up to 100 passengers at a time.