2023-11-18 16:34:53
Spaceship’s second test flight ended in another failure on Saturday. The imposing unmanned spacecraft from the company SpaceX was stopped in its flight by two explosions.
The first Spaceship test, seven months ago, also failed.
This time, the rocket successfully launched in Boca Chica, Texas, and its two stages successfully separated before catching fire.
The rocket was made up of two sections: the Super Heavy propulsion stage and its 33 engines, and the Starship. Both sections did not survive the test flight.
The craft rose to an altitude of 90 kilometers and was scheduled for a 90-minute flight, but engineers on the ground lost contact after ten minutes, Elon Musk’s space company said.
For its part, the Super Heavy booster exploded over the Gulf of Mexico shortly after Starship broke away from it.
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People watch SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft prepare for a test launch from the Boca Chica Launch Pad near Brownsville, Texas, United States, November 17, 2023.
Photo : Archyde.com / GO NAKAMURA
Big ambitions
The objective of the mission was to approach orbit, before descending into the Earth’s atmosphere and landing off the coast of Hawaii.
If successful, SpaceX would have taken an important step in its ambition to develop a large multifunctional spacecraft, capable of sending astronauts to the Moon. Ultimately, SpaceX’s ambition is to reach the planet Mars.
SpaceX’s second test flight was closely followed by NASA, which is counting on this spacecraft for its return missions to the Moon.
The head of the American space agency, Bill Nelson, congratulated SpaceX on Saturday for the progress made in this launch, citing an opportunity to learn and then fly again.
Together, NASA and SpaceX will return humanity to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
On April 20, Starship took off for the first time in its complete configuration. But several engines did not work, and SpaceX intentionally blew up the rocket after four minutes.
With information from Agence France-Presse and Archyde.com
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