The world’s most powerful rocket system, SpaceX’s Starship, successfully launched its next-gen cruise vessel but exploded nearly four minutes after liftoff lighting up the Texas sky.
Rather than seeing the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of the rocket as a setback, scientists are calling it a “successful failure” for two reasons.
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“Just don’t blow up the launchpad,” was CEO Elon Musk’s one request. SpaceX scientists can be proud of accomplishing that feat.
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The test flight achieved the major objective of getting the 394-foot-tall rocket off the ground. The nearly four-minute flight allowed experts to gather a wealth of data that will advance Starship’s development and prepare the company for the next test flight in a few months.
The giant vehicle reached a maximum altitude of about 24 miles.
The rocket is set to play a key role in NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to put humans on the moon in 2025.