SpaceX‘s most powerful rocket blasted off on another test flight on Thursday and made it farther than its two previous attempts, only to get destroyed upon its fiery reentry to Earth.
About 40 minutes after the rocket’s liftoff from Boca Chica, Texas, the astronautics company lost signal with the rocket as it flew over the Gulf of Mexico, almost reaching its goal before turning into a fiery ball. It reached temperatures hotter than 2,500 degrees as it soared over and splashed into the Indian Ocean.
Starship’s Raptor engine burn is complete and Starship has entered a coast phase
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024
This third attempt is a success for SpaceX. Last year, two test flights exploded just minutes after takeoff due to heavy engine shutdowns and detachment malfunction.
“Today has been a phenomenal day,” a SpaceX commentator said. Starship made it from its launch into space and far enough into the atmosphere to undergo extreme heating, which was a huge achievement for the company.
Minutes after liftoff, the booster detached smoothly from the spaceship and dropped into the gulf as the spaceship moved east. There were no astronauts or satellites aboard this mission.
“The ship has been lost. So no splashdown today,” SpaceX’s Daniel Huot said. “But again, it’s incredible to see how much further we got this time around.”
SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted on X that “SpaceX has come a long way” and congratulated his team.
The rocket company, which was founded 22 years ago on Thursday, made history with its development of Starship. The spacecraft surpasses NASA’s moon rockets at 397 feet tall, equivalent to 39 stories, and produces twice the power of NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket.
“Starship will make life multi-planetary,” Musk posted on X.
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As “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, capable of carrying up to 150 metric tonnes fully reusable and 250 metric tonnes expendable,” the Starship is “designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond,” according to SpaceX.
Since its founding, SpaceX has conducted 319 total launches and 283 landings.
