"Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. "Congrats to SpaceX on Starship’s first integrated flight test," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. Starship would have continued on to reach an altitude of about 150 miles before attempting a soft water landing of its own near Hawaii.Ī previous attempt to launch Starship earlier this week was scrubbed due to technical issues with a frozen valve in the Super Heavy booster, but technicians were able to clear the problem quickly and turn the vehicle around for another attempt 72 hours later. Just before the three-minute mark, Starship and Super Heavy would have separated with the latter attempting a soft water landing. Had everything gone according to plan, Starship would have cleared the tower, then flown over the Gulf of Mexico. The farther we fly, the more data we collect." "From a milestone standpoint, our main goal is to clear the pad (meaning ascend past the 500-foot launch tower without a failure)," Kate Tice, an engineering manager at SpaceX, said during the launch webcast. Going all in: In Texas, SpaceX is ready to bet the house on Starship's first orbital launch SpaceX Starship: Here's everything you need to know about the Texas launchįirst Starship attempt: SpaceX scrubs first integrated Starship launch attempt, but could still fly this week View Gallery: Photos: SpaceX launches Starship on first integrated flight from Texas Anything else, SpaceX said, meant extra data for engineers to review. Despite the hardware issues, SpaceX largely considers the mission a success – teams were initially hoping to see the rocket's engines ignite, then clear the tower. ![]() SpaceX later confirmed the rocket's flight termination system, or FTS, was activated to destroy the tumbling vehicle for safety reasons.Īside from the separation failure, it also appeared three of 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite at liftoff. It eventually broke apart and crashed into the Gulf. Just over three minutes into flight over the Gulf of Mexico, it became apparent the first stage Super Heavy booster and second Stage starship vehicle weren't going to separate as planned, sending the combined 400-foot stack into a tumble. CDT) liftoff from the company's Starbase operations area near Brownsville, Texas. SpaceX's Starship, already towering over the low-lying southernmost tip of Texas, gained even more height early Thursday when it launched on its first integrated test, making it the most powerful rocket in history.īut the rocket also met a fiery end shortly after its 9:33 a.m. ![]() Please support it with a subscription here. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Space is important to us and that’s why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Watch Video: SpaceX launches first integrated Starship rocket from Texas
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