SpaceX launches its Starship rocket on latest test flight but spacecraft is destroyed : NPR

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its newest take a look at flight Thursday, catching the booster again on the pad however shedding contact with the ascending spacecraft as engines went out.

Officers for Elon Musk’s firm mentioned the spacecraft was destroyed.

The spacecraft was alleged to soar throughout the Gulf of Mexico on a close to loop world wide just like earlier take a look at flights. SpaceX had packed it with 10 dummy satellites for apply at releasing them. It was the primary flight of this new and upgraded spacecraft.

Earlier than the loss, SpaceX for the second time used big mechanical arms to catch the booster again on the pad minutes after liftoff from Texas. The descending booster hovered over the launch pad earlier than being gripped by a pair of mechanical arms dubbed chopsticks.

The 400-foot (123-meter) rocket thundered away in late afternoon from Boca Chica close to the Mexican border. The late hour ensured a daylight entry midway world wide.

Skimming area, the shiny retro-looking spacecraft — supposed by Musk as a moon and Mars ships — focused the Indian Ocean for a managed however harmful finish to the hourlong demo.

SpaceX beefed up the catch tower after November’s launch ended up damaging sensors on the robotic arms, forcing the staff to forgo a seize try. That booster was steered into the gulf as an alternative.

The corporate additionally upgraded the spacecraft for the newest demo. The take a look at satellites had been the identical dimension as SpaceX’s Starlink web satellites and, just like the spacecraft, meant to drop into the Indian Ocean to shut out the mission. Contact was misplaced about 8 1/2 minutes into the flight.

Musk plans to launch precise Starlinks on Starships earlier than shifting on to different satellites and, ultimately, crews.

It was the seventh take a look at flight for the world’s largest and strongest rocket. NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s aim is Mars.

“Each Starship launch is another step nearer in direction of Mars,” Musk mentioned through X forward of liftoff.

Hours hours earlier in Florida, one other billionaire’s rocket firm — Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — launched the most recent supersized rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, efficiently putting an experimental satellite tv for pc hundreds of miles above Earth. However the first-stage booster was destroyed, lacking its focused touchdown on a floating platform within the Atlantic.