Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rocket Blows Up Shortly After Launch AGAIN
The second test flight for Elon Musk’s SpaceX starship rocket blew up approximately 15 minutes after liftoff on Saturday in spectacular fashion.
The spacecraft successfully took off from the SpaceX spaceport in Brownsville, Texas on Saturday morning. During the launch, the rocket was able to separate from the rocket booster but exploded during its descent.
Just past two minutes into the flight, the spacecraft broke apart and the company announced after it had lost the signal during the second stage of the mission. SpaceX noted that the rocket’s self-destruction was initiated after losing signal.
SpaceX shared the initial launch video on X (formerly Twitter):
Starship liftoff in slow motion pic.twitter.com/PuWMVyU6Lc
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2023
“The booster experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation while Starship’s engines fired for several minutes on its way to space,” SpaceX said in a post on X. “With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary.”
If the mission would have been a success, the rocket would have landed in the Pacific ocean near Hawaii. The stated goal of SpaceX is to eventually launch a trip where the rocket can circle the Earth in an hour and a half.
Per the Daily Beast the mission did have one major achievement:
SpaceX’s second test flight did make it further than the company’s previous attempt, which ended in an explosion seven months ago.
The separation between the booster rocket and the spacecraft was one of SpaceX’s main goals from this test flight given that did not happen during the April mission before it exploded.
