SpaceX's Starship explodes mid-flight, upper stage lost, says company
Science & Tech news | Discover the details of SpaceX's seventh orbital test of the Starship rocket where the upper stage was lost due to engine anomalies, as confirmed by Elon Musk's company.
SpaceX's ambitious Starship test flight ended in disaster on Thursday (Jan 16) when the rocket’s upper stage exploded over the Atlantic Ocean. This setback came just hours after Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin celebrated its first successful orbital mission.
"At this point in time, we can confirm we did lose the ship," SpaceX's Kate Tice said during a webcast, adding: "We always knew that excitement is guaranteed today, success not guaranteed."
Some success, some failure
Elon Musk's company showcased its technical prowess by catching the massive Super Heavy booster in the mechanical arms of its launch tower—a difficult manoeuvre it has now achieved for the second time. But the celebration was short-lived. Moments later, SpaceX confirmed it had lost contact with the upper stage. The company later, in its own words, confirmed that the upper-stage vehicle had undergone a "rapid unscheduled disassembly", its euphemism for an explosion.
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The rocket blasted off from SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 4:37 pm (2237 GMT) for its seventh test flight. Standing at 403 feet (122.83 m), the Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. About seven minutes into the flight, the Super Heavy booster slowed from supersonic speeds and smoothly landed back in the launch tower's arms, sparking applause from the ground control team.
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However, the upper stage soon encountered a propulsion failure and was lost. Flight Aware tracker showed planes changing course near the Turks and Caicos Islands, while videos on social media showed the rocket breaking apart during its fiery descent.
"Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" Musk posted on X, sharing clips of the explosion.
Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.
Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and…
Bezos and Musk: A growing space rivalry
Thursday's events added fuel to the rivalry between Musk and Bezos. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully reached orbit for the first time, marking a significant leap for Bezos in the commercial space race.
While SpaceX has long dominated the commercial launch industry with its Falcon 9 rocket used by NASA, the Pentagon, and private companies, Blue Origin has only operated suborbital flights with its smaller New Shepard rocket. The orbital success of New Glenn, a rocket with higher payload capacity than Falcon 9 but smaller than Falcon Heavy, signals Blue Origin's intent to claim more of the growing space market.
(With inputs from agencies)
