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The photographs appear to capture debris in the sky in the wake of the SpaceX spacecraft rocket that underwent a “rapid and unplanned disassembly” of its Jan. 16 flight test. [Greg Munch/TMX]
Spacex presented its Starship rocket on its last test flight on Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed after an interesting Booster look at the PAD.
Elon Musk’s company said Starship broke apart — what it called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” The spacecraft’s six engines appeared to shut down one by one during ascent, with contact lost just 8 1/2 minutes into the flight.
The spacecraft, a new, advanced model making its debut, was intended to fly over the Gulf of Mexico from Texas in a close circuit around the world, similar to previous test flights. SpaceX had equipped it with 10 dummy satellites to practice releasing it. .
Spacex’s Mega Rocket Starship ship throws a flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, January 16, 2025. (Photo AP/Eric Gay) (Photo AP/Eric Gay/Associated Press)
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A minute before the loss, Spacex used the giant mechanical arms of the Liberation Tower to catch the reinforcement that returns, a feat completed once before. The descending reinforcement hovered on the release platform before being grabbed through the nicknamed wands arms.
The emotion of the capture temporarily became sadness only for the company, but the crowd accumulated throughout the southern end of Texas.
“It was great to see a booster come down, but we are obviously bummed out about ship,” said SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot. “It’s a flight test. It’s an experimental vehicle,” he stressed.
The newest knowledge gained by the spacecraft indicated an altitude of 90 miles (146 kilometers) and a speed of 13,245 mph (21,317 km/h).
SpaceX’s Méga-Fusée Starship returns to the launch pad A Flight Checkout from Starbase to Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (AP Photo/Eric Gay/Associated Press)
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Musk said initial research suggests the fuel leak would possibly have increased strain in a hollow space above the engine’s firewall. Fire abolition will be added to the area, with increased ventilation and double checking for leaks, X said.
The 400-foot (123-meter) rocket sailed past Boca Chica Beach, near the Mexican border, in the afternoon. The latest expiration time secured an access for Sunlight International in the Indian Ocean. But shiny, old-fashioned spaceships have never gone this far.
SpaceX had made innovations to the spacecraft for the latest demonstration and added a fleet of satellite mockups. The control satellites were the same length as SpaceX’s StarLink satellites and, like the spacecraft, had to be destroyed upon entry.
Musk plans to launch actual Starlinks on Starships before moving on to other satellites and, eventually, crews.
SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship booster returns to the launch pad during a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (AP Photo/Eric Gay / Associated Press)
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It was the seventh test flight for the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket. NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s goal is Mars.
A few hours earlier, in Florida, another billionaire’s rocket company, Blue Origin through Jeff Bezos, presented the logo of the new large rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, effectively impacting an experimental satellite thousands of kilometers above Earth. But the booster for the first landing was destroyed, failing to make its planned landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic.
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