The First Orbital SpaceX Starship did not reach orbit but there was the guaranteed excitement that Elon promised. The rocket did lift off and flew for two to three minutes before it lost control and blew up. SpaceX likely triggered a self destruct.
It reached about three times the speed of sound and about 39 kilometers of altitude. There was a previous test flight last year to 10 kilometers and a successful return and landing. The problem this time occurred with the attempt to flip for stage separation.
Seeing Starship Super Heavy clear the pad is MAJESTIC! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2bwGihDHzx
— Everything SpaceX (@spacex360) April 20, 2023
Previously, Elon said a few days ago that clearing the launch tower before the rocket blew up would be considered a success. The launch pad was not damaged.
Congratulations to the SpaceX team.
The next rocket has hundreds of improvements and is already built and ready to fly.
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Mission Control, @elonmusk's reaction to the unexpected rapid disassembly of Starship:
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/vRA35LIt6l
— Gordus (@medicgordus) April 20, 2023
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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SLS rocks
Starship blows chunks
Starship is the size of SaturnV. Our fathers did it on the first shot without an Elon Musk and they did it with slide rules. Back then uncommon intelligence was a common virtue.
Excuse me. Apollo 1 fire that killed the crew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_4#Delays
SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy Booster has 40 engines and double the thrust. The F1 first stage had 5 engines.
Soviet N1 had similar number of engines as Starship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)#Launch_history
Looked to me like several engines did not ignite and a couple were gimbled for the flip but got stuck in that position and the craft never righted itself.
Impressive feat. Can’t wait for the next launch.
It happens. Usually rocket development involves several failures.
Historic launch! How long before the next one? They say two months, let’s estimate four, then.