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Status: 03.02.2021 09:43 am
Another SpaceX rocket exploded during a test flight. With the “Starship” prototype, Elon Musk’s space company wants to make trips to the Moon and Mars possible.
As in December, the private space company SpaceX suffered a serious setback in its most recent rocket test. The test flight of the new “Starship” 9 (SN9) rocket prototype ended Tuesday (Texas local time) with an explosion, video recordings show.
After the successful start in Boca Chica in the US state of Texas, everything seemed to be going according to plan. The unmanned rocket performed a series of test maneuvers in a horizontal position without any problems. But a few minutes later, the “starship” had already reached the maximum altitude of a good twelve kilometers, the landing maneuver went wrong due to a technical defect.
Live images show that the rocket returned at too high a speed and at the wrong angle. The prototype fell to the ground with a crash and caught fire. A ball of fire and a huge cloud of dust formed.
“Great flight to the top”
“We had another great flight to the top. We still have a bit of work to do on the landing,” John Insprucker, Space X’s lead engineer, was quoted as saying by “CNBC” during the flight’s broadcast on the company’s website.
According to the plans of the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, the “Starship” will one day transport cargo and people to the Moon and Mars. The special feature: the rocket must be completely reusable. To achieve this, you have to perform a turning maneuver in the air and then land on the ground again in a controlled manner.
The rocket should also be used where there are no launch pads and no ideal landing spots, for example on Mars. In December, however, a “Starship” rocket, the SN8, exploded upon landing after a test flight in Texas due to a problem with the fuel system.
SpaceX wants to take tourists to space
SpaceX has already established itself in space travel with its Falcon-9 rocket. The first routine mission of a manned rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) began in November.
In addition to satellite transports and cargo flights, SpaceX also wants to transport passengers into space this year. The first tourist space mission called “Inspiration4” is scheduled for the fourth quarter, the company announced Monday.
The trip with four tourists should last three days and consist of a series of orbits around the world. American businessman Jared Isaacman, founder of the Shift4 Payments payment service, is said to be one of SpaceX’s first space tourists.
