SpaceX¡¯s colossal Starship spacecraft exploded during its second major test flight on Saturday, but achieved new milestones that advance Elon Musk¡¯s crucial deep-space launch system.
As the Starship spacecraft was heading to near orbit, it appeared to burst apart on an X livestream. Later, the hosts of the livestream said that Starship likely had been lost, believing that the vehicle¡¯s flight termination system activated while the vehicle was attempting to reach near orbit. The flight termination system is used to destroy a rocket if it starts to malfunction or deviates from its flight path during a launch.
¡°With a test like this, success comes from what we learn,¡± SpaceX wrote on X. ¡°Today¡¯s test will help us improve Starship¡¯s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary.¡±
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.