The goal was to collect flight data all the way down to "hard" splashdowns in the Gulf of Mexico and, for the upper stage, the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, lifts off from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight from Boca Chica, Texas, April 20, 2023, in a still image from video.īut for the vehicle's first integrated test flight, no such recoveries were planned. Starships are designed to fly themselves to touchdowns anywhere landing pads are available as well as touchdowns on the moon or, eventually, Mars. The Super Heavy is designed to fly back to its launch pad, either in Boca Chica or at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and descend to touchdown, captured by two huge robotic arms on the launch gantry dubbed "chopsticks." In contrast, the much more powerful Starship, capable of lifting 100 tons to low-Earth orbit, is designed to be fully reusable. The rocket's first stage has now carried out 186 successful landings, but the upper stage is lost. While SpaceX's hugely successful Falcon 9 rocket now dominates the international commercial launch market, it is only partially reusable. Musk says the Starship, made up of the Super Heavy first stage and a second stage that's also (confusingly) called Starship, is the key to the company's future. If we get far enough away from the launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. "So I guess I would just like to set expectations low. So, we've got 33 engines on the booster, we've got six engines on the upper stage of the ship. "It's over twice the thrust of a Saturn 5, the Saturn 5 moon rocket, which is largest rocket ever to get to orbit, it's roughly twice the mass. "Starship is the biggest rocket ever made," he said. "A return to flight of the Starship/Super Heavy vehicle (will be) based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety." What the mishap means for SpaceX and NASAĭuring a Twitter Spaces call with subscribers Sunday, Musk repeatedly downplayed expectations. The Federal Aviation Administration said the agency would oversee a mishap investigation. Three more outer engines shut down over the next minute and 20 seconds or so. The SpaceX Starship rocket lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023.īut on-screen graphics in the SpaceX webcast showed three of the 33 Raptor engines had either shut down moments after liftoff or never ignited in the first place - two in an outer ring of 20 fixed Raptors and one of the 13 central steerable engines. With its engines gulping some 40,000 pounds of propellant per second, the rocket initially climbed straight up and then gracefully tilted over onto an easterly trajectory toward the Florida Straits. The engines quickly throttled up to 16 million pounds of thrust - twice the power of the current record holder, NASA's SLS moon rocket - and the gargantuan rocket majestically climbed away from SpaceX's "Starbase" launch facility. EDT, two minutes later than planned because of minor technical snags. Thrilling thousands of area residents, tourists and journalists looking on from nearby South Padre Island, the 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines powering the Super Heavy first stage roared to life at 9:30 a.m.
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