SpaceX’s Starship successfully launched on first orbital test flight
First flight test of SpaceX's fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket has lifted off successfully in its second launch attempt
San Francisco: The first flight test of SpaceX’s fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket, built to take humanity to the Moon, Mars and beyond, has lifted off successfully in its second launch attempt.
“Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!” CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter.
“Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months,” he added.
Starship launched with the Super Heavy booster firing up its Raptor engines and lifting off the pad a little after 8:28 a.m. CT (6.58 p.m. IST) from Starbase in Texas.
However, the separation of the booster from the spacecraft that sat atop the rocket appeared to fail. Some of the booster’s 33 engines also appeared to not ignite.
The blast meant the test flight was successful, but what led to failure of the separation is not immediately known.
“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX said in a tweet.
“Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test.”
This is SpaceX’s second attempt to launch as the first on Monday was scrubbed at the last minute due to an issue with the pressurisation system on Starship’s first stage, a huge booster called Super Heavy.
The Super Heavy booster will likely make a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about eight minutes after liftoff.
Starship’s upper-stage spacecraft will reportedly make a partial lap around Earth, coming down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii around 90 minutes after launch.
The test is meant to collect data on the system’s performance, which is crucial for future development.
“With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship,” the company said.
SpaceX aims to use Starship as a fully reusable transportation system to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.
Starship is the tallest rocket ever assembled. The fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket stands 394 feet tall, and is about 30 feet in diameter.
