SpaceX Starship Launch Ends with Explosion
Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft Thursday enjoyed a clean liftoff before exploding minutes later. The rocket made it just 23 miles into the air.
Facts
- Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft Thursday enjoyed a clean liftoff before exploding minutes later. The rocket made it just 23 miles into the air.1
- The unpiloted flight of the most powerful rocket ever built lasted more than two minutes before it experienced what a SpaceX engineer called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent.”2
- On Monday, SpaceX had postponed the Starship launch minutes before it was scheduled for liftoff because of what Musk called a problem with a "pressurant valve."3
- Once the launch was scrapped, SpaceX instead held a wet-dress rehearsal, during which the team wet the propellant tanks and loaded propellant into the system as if it was holding the actual launch.4
- Starship, which stands 394 feet tall and 30 feet wide and is the largest rocket ever built, received government approval to launch just last week. Before the launch, Musk tempered expectations by saying that if it doesn't "blow up the launch pad" he would consider the launch a success.5
- This flight comes after years of tests, including some that ended in explosions. Musk hopes Starship someday will be able to carry cargo and humans to Mars.6
Sources: 1Reuters, 2CBS (a), 3USA Today, 4Forbes, 5CBS (b), and 6CNN.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by Space. This was an amazing accomplishment by SpaceX, even with the explosion. No one was expecting perfection this time around, but the company’s plans are still on track. With numerous Starship vehicles in production, we could see another test flight soon, and in a few years, we might see manned flights. If anyone’s going to get humans to Mars, it’s Musk and SpaceX.
- Narrative B, as provided by Politico. This launch might be a cause to celebrate, but it’s also a reason not to rush to the next launch without first assessing what went wrong and what needs to be done to continue to assure public safety is protected. That might even mean some form of federal regulation of commercial spaceflight programs.
