The SpaceX Megarotian spacecraft tends to make a show, and its latest test flight was no exception.
This mission, the ninth for the top of about 400 feet (122 meters) Vesselremoved from SpacexThe Starbase site in southern Texas last Tuesday (May 27).
Flight 9 Delivered incredible visuals, which we saw live with the kind permission of the webdiffusion of SpaceX – and afterwards, via video clips and photos that the company published on X.
A Publish (May 31) shared four photos, as well as a short and sweet legend: “Starship in Space”.
One of these photos was taken shortly after the Megarocket reached the final border; The Gulf of Mexico and the shore near Starbase are clearly visible, as is the plume generated by Starship during the launch.
Another blow was broken just after the two elements of the vehicle – the super heavy booster and the upper stadium of the ship. This photo, taken inside Ship’s Engine Bay, shows a super heavy fall, an orange flame licking at the top, with the blue curve of the earth in the background.
It was the second return to Earth for this super heavy; He first flew over in January, on Starship’s Flight 7. On this flight, the booster returned to Starbase, where he was captured by the “Chopstick” arms of the launch tower about seven minutes after takeoff.
There would never have been a third launch for this super heavy. SpaceX led a number of flight experiences with the booster last Tuesday and therefore directed it to a “hard splash” in the Gulf of Mexico for safety.
However, the vehicle did not reach water in one piece on flight 9; He separated from about six minutes and 20 seconds after the launch, just after starting his landing burn.
The ship also underwent an “unforeseen rapid dismantling” of flight 9. The upper stage reached a space on a suborbital trajectory, but it did not slowly splashed off the coast off Western Australia as planned.
The vehicle began to plunge around 30 minutes after launch, apparently due to a proprietary leak, said SpaceX representatives during the webdiffusion of flight 9.
“Contact with Starship was lost at around 46 minutes after the start of the flight, all the debris that should be in the expected risk zone of the Indian Ocean,” wrote SpaceX Summary of flight 9.
SpaceX develops Starship – the largest and most powerful rocket ever built – for Help humanity to settle MarsAmong other ambitious objectives.
The company plans to recover the giant rocket on the launch ramp soon, to continue working on its folds and to get closer to the operational status.
“A data review is underway and new improvements will be implemented while the work is starting to prepare the next starship and super heavy vehicles for theft,” wrote the company in the summary of flight 9. “Development tests, by definition, are unpredictable, but each lesson learns that the brand progresses towards the starship objective to allow life to become multiplanetary.”
