However, the team did manage to perform only the second ‘chopstick-style’ catch of the first stage booster, effectively making it reusable.
The launch was the first following a major upgrade to the vehicle, and the company’s founder, Elon Musk, said afterwards that the setback shouldn’t push the next blast off past February.
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Starship is the collective name for the SpaceX Super Heavy booster rocket and Starship spacecraft, destined to fly humans to Mars one day.
Testing began in April 2023 when the spacecraft failed to reach orbit, but culminated in the first stage incredibly returning to the original launch pad and being caught by mechanical arms in October last year.
On Thursday, Starship lifted off in Texas at 4:37 p.m local time from SpaceX’s Starbase test site at Boca Chica, Texas.
“At launch, all 33 Raptor engines powered the Super Heavy booster and Starship on a nominal ascent,” said SpaceX in a mission debrief. “Following a successful hot-stage separation, the booster successfully transitioned to its boostback burn, with 12 of the planned 13 Raptor engines relighting, to begin its return to the launch site.
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“Super Heavy then relit all 13 planned middle ring and centre Raptor engines and performed its landing burn, including the engine that did not relight for boostback burn.
“The landing burn slowed Super Heavy down and manoeuvred itself to the launch and catch tower arms, resulting in the second successful catch of a Super Heavy booster.
“Following stage separation, the Starship upper stage successfully lit all six Raptor engines and performed its ascent burn to space.
“Prior to the burn’s completion, telemetry was lost with the vehicle after approximately eight and a half minutes of flight.
“Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean within the predefined hazard areas.”
The company concluded that it would conduct a “thorough investigation” into the failure and make improvements for future Starship test flights.
Later reports suggested a number of aircraft flying over the Atlantic were instructed by flight controllers to go into holding patterns or be diverted to other airports. It followed local reports that Qantas was delaying flights to South Africa following launches of SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 9s over the Southern Indian Ocean.
“The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling,” the organisation said in a statement.
“A Debris Response Area is activated only if the space vehicle experiences an anomaly with debris falling outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas.”
SpaceX had previously unveiled a list of major upgrades to Starship, marking the biggest design change since its initial test flight in April 2023.
Alterations debuting on flight seven included adding new sensors to the launch site to make the pincer-style catches more accurate and redesigning the propulsion system and heat shield.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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