Starship rocket exploded at the beginning of the flight – Kommersant
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The Starship launch vehicle took off from Starbase in South Texas. After reaching a height of 38 km, the apparatus began to rotate and exploded.
“Not all engines turned on … There was an explosion. We do not know whether it was the result of damage to the rocket structure, or the command was given for self-destruction, ”said the presenter launch broadcast.
An unforeseen situation arose at the moment of separation of the first stage of the rocket. SpaceX on Twitter informedthat will study the data and continue working on the project. The company emphasized that the first launch turned out to be “exciting”, and the information received will certainly contribute to increasing the reliability of the rocket.
Starship is a super-heavy reusable two-stage launch vehicle designed by the American company SpaceX to transport people and cargo to low Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars. The first stage of the rocket was equipped with 33 Raptor 2 methane-oxygen engines, the second with six.
According to the plan, the first flight of Starship was supposed to last about an hour and a half. After the separation of the stages (a catastrophe occurred at this stage), the rocket had to start the engines and rise above the Karman line (the conditional boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and space). An exit to a stable orbit was not planned. Immediately after the spacewalk, the engines were supposed to turn off, Starship – to return to the atmosphere and splash down to the northwest of Hawaii.
The test launch was supposed to take place on April 17th. Tests moved due to a sealing problem. Prior to that, in December 2020, a prototype rocket exploded upon landing. Later, in March 2021, the new prototype ignited a few minutes after the maneuvers (also on landing). Six months before the test launch – in July 2022 – during testing broke out launch vehicle Starship Super Heavy.
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