In a high-profile test of SpaceX’s Starship, the spacecraft and its booster experienced explosions minutes after launch, marking a setback in the company’s ambitious space exploration goals.
The incident occurred on November 18, 2023, at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, in what was supposed to be a 90 minute lap around earth.
The Starship spacecraft, designed to eventually carry humans and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, was on an uncrewed test flight. After a successful lift-off, the spacecraft reached space, attaining an altitude of approximately 92 miles, before communication with it was abruptly lost. Officials from SpaceX suggested that the spacecraft’s self-destruct system was activated, leading to its destruction over the Gulf of Mexico.
Minutes before the spacecraft’s failure, the Super Heavy booster, which is responsible for propelling the Starship to space, had also exploded over the Gulf. Despite the explosion, SpaceX noted that the booster had completed its role in the test flight before the incident.
SpaceX’s latest test aimed to demonstrate the Starship’s ability to reach orbit, a crucial step towards its eventual operational use. The failure occurred after the successful separation of the Starship from its first stage Super Heavy booster, approximately two minutes into the flight. However, the cause of the explosions remains unclear. SpaceX is reviewing data to understand the failures and plan their next steps.
This test flight was a critical moment for SpaceX as it sought to showcase the capabilities of the Starship, which is central to the company’s future plans for space exploration. The Starship is unique in its fully reusable design, intended to reduce the cost of access to space significantly.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), responsible for overseeing commercial spaceflight, will be closely involved in the investigation of the incident. Previous failures of SpaceX test flights have led to temporary groundings of their fleets as part of standard safety and review procedures.
The recent test flight lasted about eight minutes, twice as long as the first Starship test flight in April 2023, which also ended in an explosion. The April test had reached an altitude of approximately 24 miles before its premature end. Despite the setback, SpaceX has made notable progress, successfully firing all 33 engines on the booster stage and completing stage separation in the latest test.
SpaceX, led by CEO Elon Musk, has been at the forefront of advancing space technology, with a vision of making space travel more accessible and eventually colonizing Mars. The Starship is central to this vision and is also slated to play a significant role in NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon.