Washington, DC: On Thursday, SpaceX conducted the eighth test flight of its Starship rocket, successfully executing the "catch" of the Super Heavy booster. However, the Starship disintegrated less than ten minutes into its flight, as reported by the New York Post.
SpaceX engineers indicated that the 400-foot-tall rocket, launched from the company's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in Texas, lost altitude control after several engines failed 20 seconds before the ascent burn concluded.
In a statement on X, SpaceX noted, "During the ascent burn of Starship, the vehicle underwent a rapid unscheduled disassembly, resulting in a loss of contact. Our team promptly coordinated with safety officials to activate pre-planned contingency measures."
"We will analyze the data from today's flight test to gain insights into the root cause. As always, success is derived from our learnings, and today's flight will provide further lessons to enhance Starship's reliability," the statement continued.
During the live broadcast of the flight, nearly 1 million viewers watched as the rocket appeared to spiral out of control before the feed was abruptly cut. The Starship was anticipated to splash down in the Indian Ocean; however, social media videos captured flaming debris from Starship 8 lighting up the night sky over the Atlantic Ocean, with observers in Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas marveling at the fiery wreckage as it descended towards Earth, according to the New York Post.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported that flights at several Florida airports were temporarily halted on Thursday due to "space launch debris." SpaceX lost contact with Starship 8 before it could deploy its test satellites, which were scheduled for release at the 17-minute mark.
Before the apparent explosion, SpaceX successfully executed its third catch of the Super Heavy booster, which is equipped with 33 Raptor engines. The booster returned to the Texas launchpad, where the mechanical arms, referred to as "chopsticks," captured the reusable and powerful propellant.
Earlier on Monday, SpaceX announced a postponement of its eighth test of the Starship rocket shortly before the planned launch. The delay occurred due to a flight hold related to an unresolved issue with the Super Heavy booster, as reported by the New York Post.
The spacecraft was set to launch from SpaceX's Starbase facility located near Boca Chica Beach in Texas. However, a booster issue was detected by the computers with just 23 minutes remaining in the countdown.
