SpaceX’s Starship rocket destroys Florida Airport through unsuccessful test flight

Starship – Elon Musk said a spacecraft that will take people to Mars one day – failed again in its eighth test flight Thursday.

This is the second consecutive test flight of the most powerful rocket ever, where the upper spacecraft fails. After several engines went out, it began to lose control and then lost contact with mission control.

Users said photos and videos posted on social media sites by their users along the Florida coast showed signs of a spacecraft crashing in the sky. Descent debris destroyed flights at airports in Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

The Rockets lifted a little from SpaceX ruins after 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, known as Stubs, along the Gulf Coast at the southern tip of Texas, near the city of Brownsville.

The launch was scheduled for Monday night, but the countdown stopped for about 30 seconds when some sensors read incorrectly. A few minutes later, the launch attempt was cancelled.

After several days of repairs, the company said the Starship was ready to try again in an operation that was largely the seventh flight, which was launched in January.

On Thursday, Starship’s mammoth booster or rocket’s bottom successfully returned to the launch pad again, just like in the last test. This is the third successful catch of the large mechanical weapon booster on the launch tower, nicknamed “Chopsticks”. But during the January flight, the upper spacecraft collapsed in the Caribbean, with some debris landing on the Turks and Caicos.

This time, some of them broke down in the last half minute before the upper engine was shut down. Video from the Rocket shows the tumbling view of the earth and space until it is cut off.

Shortly after, commentators about SpaceX live broadcasts said that Starship’s telemetry had been lost.

What is a Starship?

The Starship Rocket System is the largest ever built. It is 403 feet tall, nearly 100 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty on the base.

It has the most engines ever found in rocket boosters: the Super Heavy Booster is powered by SpaceX’s Raptor engine. As these engines lift the Starship from the launch pad, they will generate 16 million pounds of thrust on the full throttle.

Also known as the “Starship” or “Ship”, the upper part looks like a shiny rocket from a 1950s science fiction movie, is made of stainless steel with large fins. This is the upper stage that will head to orbit, which can eventually bring people to the moon or even Mars.

In six tests before the seventh flight, SpaceX proved the basic design work of the Rockets, and the Starship could be restored to Earth almost complete. In the coming year, SpaceX hopes to improve “more or less” to “reliable” and prove other features. The company could receive approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for up to 25 flights this year.

What went wrong during the seventh flight?

The first part of the launch went smoothly, with all 33 engines of the booster lifting the rocket into space. The boosters were also properly separated, and the six engines of the second phase spacecraft were ignited, pushing them upwards. But something went wrong, and air traffic in the Caribbean had to be diverted and delayed around the falling debris.

About two minutes into the previous phase of flight, a flash occurred near an engine near the rear of the spacecraft, Spacex said. The company calls the area a “loft.”

SpaceX says the increase in pressure on the sensor indicates a leak.

Two minutes later, there was another flash in the attic and a fire followed, which caused all engines except one to turn off. The spacecraft telemetry ended eight minutes and 20 seconds after it ended.

SpaceX said the possible reasons are stronger than expected rhythmic oscillations. Vibration causes a leak of propellant that cannot be completely discharged from the attic, causing a fire.

SpaceX said that according to its analysis, the self-destruction system exploded the rockets in a few minutes.

What has SpaceX changed to solve these problems?

The company said the feed line carrying propellant to the engine has been changed to reduce oscillation. SpaceX also changed the propellant temperature and thrust level of the engine to avoid repeated leakage.

For the rockets in this flight, SpaceX also added more vents to the attic section, as well as a system to remove propellant areas to reduce the chance of fire.

The FAA is responsible for SpaceX’s investigation into the problems that occurred during the seventh test flight and issued its eighth flight with a launch permit on Friday.

When can the interstellar spacecraft send people to space?

NASA plans to use starships to bring astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon’s surface in the Artemis III mission, and is currently scheduled for 2027.

But if the Trump administration makes improvements to the moon’s plan or shifts its attention to Mars, the mission could be delayed or even cancelled.

SpaceX needs to prove the high reliability of the Starship before flying with the people on board.

What’s still happening in SpaceX?

The company continues to launch the Falcon 9 rockets from Florida and California every few days. But it also has some malfunctions with this transmitter.

During the February launch, the Falcon 9 failed to perform the usual engine burning in the last phase to ensure that the rocket’s remains would splash in the ocean. Instead, it stays on the track. Air resistance caused it to gradually decline, and after 18 days, the stage re-entered the atmosphere. No one was injured or injured, but the rocket’s debris appeared to have landed in Poland.

SpaceX had another problem Sunday night when the Falcon 9 booster successfully landed on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean but then collapsed.

“A fire that was not a new nerve occurred at the back end of the Rocket, damaging one of the landing legs of the booster, causing it to tip over,” SpaceX reported.