SpaceX Starship’s first flight failed, rocket explodes after launch
Failed the first test flight of Starship, the largest reusable space transport system made by Elon Musk's SpaceX destined for the Moon and Mars. The rocket was launched successfully, but then exploded
The first integrated flight test of Starship, the largest reusable space transportation system of Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, failed a few minutes after takeoff.
After 4 minutes of flight Starship turned into a ball of fire shortly after takeoff from Starbase, SpaceX's private spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas.
It was his first flight test, without a crew, with the Super Heavy launcher, the largest rocket ever built, 120 meters long and capable of carrying one hundred people and as many tons of cargo on board.
This is the second failed attempt after the one postponed on Monday, in which a blocked valve caused the launch to be cancelled. In fact, the company had hoped to conduct the first orbital launch of Starship as early as summer 2021, but faced development delays and a green light from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US aviation regulator. United States, which only arrived last Friday.
Starship is designed to one day carry people and payloads into orbit and into deep space. For the SpaceX founder, it is set to play a key role in one day establishing a human colony on Mars . This test was an important step along that journey. But Musk does not despair: "We learned a lot for the next test, in a few months".
All the details.
HOW THE FIRST FLIGHT TEST OF THE SPACEX MEGA ROCKET DID
SpaceX launched its Starship rocket for the first time on April 20 at around 9:33 a.m. ET, but failed to reach space after suffering a mid-flight failure.
AFTER THE POSTPONEMENT OF APRIL 17
The company made an initial attempt to get this launch off the ground on Monday, but postponed it within minutes of launch due to a technical issue, explaining that "the apparent freezing of a valve in the pressurization system" led to the decision. ”.
TODAY'S EXPLOSION AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH
In today's flight test of the two-stage Starship system (including Super Heavy boosters and Starship starship second stage), the 33 engines were able to get the carrier off the ground without destroying the platform. The problems arose when the powerful booster had to separate from the upper stage. The Starship capsized, then exploded, after engineers attempted what they called "an unscheduled rapid disassembly."
The spacecraft reached a maximum altitude of nearly 32 km before the explosion.
THE COMPANY'S POSITION
However, SpaceX officials on the webcast praised the feat of getting the fully integrated spacecraft and booster rocket off the ground for the first time with a seemingly clean launch and declared the brief episode a successful test flight.
“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 multi-planetary,” the company commented on Twitter.
On the other hand, “SpaceX loves to move fast and take risks while developing a new rocket. These types of high-profile crashes during testing are part of that philosophy,” Axios noted.
NEXT TEST IN A FEW MONTHS
And Musk is also optimistic: “Congratulations to the @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months,” the founder of the aerospace company tweeted.
Starship's first orbital launch was a pivotal event not only for SpaceX, which is counting on Starship to further reduce launch costs and increase launch rates, but also for NASA. In 2021, the US space agency has selected SpaceX for its Human Landing System (HLS) program to develop versions of Starship capable of landing astronauts on the moon with the Artemis III mission currently scheduled for 2025, the first manned landing on the moon since 1972.
"Every great achievement throughout history has required some calculated level of risk, because with great risk comes great reward," NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote on Twitter after the test. “Looking forward to everything SpaceX learns, the next test flight and beyond.”
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/fallito-il-primo-volo-di-starship-di-spacex-il-razzo-esplode-dopo-il-lancio/ on Thu, 20 Apr 2023 14:55:06 +0000.