SpaceX’s Starship, which is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, was destroyed as it came back to Earth after nearly finishing its third test flight.
SpaceX’s Starbase, located on the Gulf of Mexico in Boca Chica, Texas, launched the 120-metre system, which weighs approximately 5,000 tonnes when fully fueled. SpaceX aims to use its spacecraft to carry astronauts to the moon and Mars one day.
The spacecraft’s cruise vessel flies around the globe for the first time, but contact is lost during the final stages of the test, just as it re-enters the atmosphere.
SpaceX never intended to recover the ship, which was nearing a planned entry into the Indian Ocean minutes earlier. It presumably burned up or came apart during re-entry.
“The ship has been lost. So no splashdown today,” said SpaceX’s Dan Huot. “But again, it’s incredible to see how much further we got this time around.”
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s billionaire founder, said on his social media platform X: ‘SpaceX has come a long way.’
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Two previous attempts led to an explosion of the spacecraft’s 33-engine booster, nicknamed Super Heavy, and the cruise vessel, which is aimed at carrying up to 100 astronauts. When stacked together, they are 10 metres taller than the Saturn V rocket that sent humans to the moon in 1969.
The first Starship launch attempt lasted four minutes, while the second one lasted eight minutes, with the latter reaching space. The third lasted more than 50 minutes.
SpaceX has a flight-testing strategy that aims to frequently push its spacecraft prototypes to the limit and beyond due to its greater tolerance for risk compared to Nasa. Frequent flight testing, according to the company, will provide valuable data that will aid in designing and developing a more robust rocket.
“Each of these flight tests continue to be just that: a test,” SpaceX said in a statement before the third launch attempt, in an apparent attempt to manage expectations in case the system exploded. “They aren’t occurring in a lab or on a test stand, but are putting flight hardware in a flight environment to maximise learning.”
Several tests were conducted on the third flight, which included opening a payload door and performing an internal fuel transfer while in space.
Both the upper and lower segments of Starship are designed to eventually power themselves safely back to Earth for a soft landing so that they can be reused, which will be significantly cheaper than building entirely new parts for each mission.
Musk hopes Starship will be the first step on a human journey further into space that ever before. He says he developed Starship, previously named the BFR (heavily hinted to mean ‘big fucking rocket’), so that humans can eventually become a’multiplanetary species’. To do this, Musk intends to begin colonizing Mars so that humanity can survive a planet-destroying event on Earth, such as a sentient AI takeover or asteroid strike.
Nasa has agreed to work with SpaceX to land astronauts, including the first woman, on the moon as soon as 2026, but that date could be delayed. Several other Starship systems are already in production for future tests.
Nasa’s chief, Bill Nelson, congratulated SpaceX on what he called ‘a successful test flight’ in a statement posted on X.
Despite the outcome of Thursday’s test, all indications indicate that Starship remains a considerable distance from becoming fully operational.
Musk has said that the rocket should carry out hundreds of uncrewed missions before carrying its first humans.
Musk previously said that the total development cost of Starship could be between $2 billion and $10 billion. It is estimated that each launch will cost tens of millions of dollars.
The company makes money by operating smaller rockets to launch satellites and sending astronauts to the International Space Station. The spacecraft’s long-term plans include being used as a shuttle for commercial travel on Earth, with trips from London to Tokyo expected to take less than an hour.
