[ad_1]
This is the second such explosion: a similar fate befell the previous SN8 spacecraft prototype in December.
“Our flight was great again,” the SpaceX speaker said via live broadcast. “We just have to do a little work on that landing.”
VIDEO: Starship | SN9 | High altitude flight test
The founder of the company, Elonas Muskas, remained unusually silent on social media. Earlier, he said he would take a break from Twitter for “a while” after several of his posts on the platform had previously caused a stir on the stock exchanges and led to a sharp rise in the shares of various companies.
The SN9 stainless steel missiles enabled the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to take off from Boka Chicago in Texas. Previously, the FAA delayed issuing the permit and found that the last time the SpaceX rocket was launched it violated the terms of its license.
The rocket took off without a hitch around 3 pm 30 minutes. local time (22 hours 30 min. Lithuania) and after reaching a height of 10 km gradually turning off their engines, they carried out a series of test maneuvers in a horizontal position.
The problems started when the missiles tried to return to a vertical position before landing. The images show that the rocket was moving too fast, at the wrong angle and failed to “recover”.
There was a huge explosion when it fell, but the fire did not spread. The test flight lasted a minute and a half.
During the test flight, another spacecraft was nearby in the takeoff area.
The company hopes that this futuristic-designed multi-missile system will one day allow people and cargo to fly to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Starship is the upper level of the spacecraft that flies to the Moon and Mars, which will be lifted by the mega-rocket Super Heavy that is still being developed.
SpaceX attempted to launch Starship last week, but did not receive the necessary approval from the FAA. This sparked an outburst of anger from E. Musko on Twitter.
SpaceX failed to comply with safety rules as a result of the Dec. 9 test flight, which required corrective action before new missile launches, an FAA spokesman said Tuesday.
Tuesday’s flight, according to the FAA, met all safety criteria.
[ad_2]
