Elon Musk's starship rocket has made its first test launch and the company managed to land the flight at the end of its high altitude test flight. But this is not the news.
The latest heavy-duty launch vehicle prototype from SpaceX soared flawlessly into the sky in a high-altitude test blast-off on Wednesday from Boca Chica, Texas, then flew itself back to Earth to achieve the first upright landing for a Starship model.
But the triumph was short-lived. Listing slightly to one side as an automated fire-suppression system trained a stream of water on flames still burning at the base of the rocket, the spacecraft blew itself to pieces about eight minutes after touchdown.
It was the third such landing attempt to end in a fireball after an otherwise successful test flight for the Starship, being developed by SpaceX to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk chose to look on the brighter side after the first major flight test of the Mars-bound starship prototype, SN10 remained unsuccessful, The Independent reported that expert observers speculated the incident was a result of a rough landing combined with a methane leak. Meanwhile, Musk celebrated that the SN10 “landed in one piece” after both SN8 and SN9 crashed in a fiery explosion upon landing. He further also hailed the team at SpaceX for doing “great work”.
Shortly before the explosion, NASA’s Spaceflight.com captured Starship SN10 leaning at a slight angle. Musk said, “SpaceX team is doing great work! One day, the true measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace” after noting that unlike previous failed launches, the SN10 landed in a single piece.
The third test for the Mars-bound starship wasn’t a charm as it ended with an explosion similar to two previous prototypes that reportedly also had the same design. However, this time the destruction was comparatively delayed and SN10 did not crash land.
(with inputs from Reuters)