SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight (VIDEO)

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SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight (VIDEO)



An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9R rocket broke up in midair soon after it took off at the company’s development site in Texas. No one was hurt in the crash, which happened during a test flight.

A three-engine version of the Falcon 9 rocket was being tested on Friday, based on SpaceX’s Grasshopper prototype.

“During the flight, an anomaly was detected in the vehicle and the flight termination system automatically terminated the mission,” the company said in a statement on Friday.

SpaceX Falcon 9-R Dev1 Explosion - YouTube

“Throughout the test and subsequent flight termination, the vehicle remained in the designated flight area,” it added.

The test flight pushed the limits of the rocket “further than any previous test.”



An investigation will be conducted to determine what went wrong before proceeding with another test.

SpaceX is working to be the first commercial company to be able to take astronauts to space as early as 2017 via reusable spacecraft.

Since the end of the US space shuttle program in 2011, Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been the only way astronauts can get to and from the ISS at a cost of $70 million each.



Source: SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight (VIDEO) ? RT USA
 

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SpaceX starship SN11 rocket explodes after test launch in Texas
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Publishing date:Mar 30, 2021 • 21 hours ago • 1 minute read • Join the conversation
This photo screengrab made from SpaceX's live webcast shows the Starship SN11 as it took to the skies over Texas on March 30, 2021 following a 24-hour delay.
This photo screengrab made from SpaceX's live webcast shows the Starship SN11 as it took to the skies over Texas on March 30, 2021 following a 24-hour delay. PHOTO BY HANDOUT/SPACEX /AFP via Getty Images
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An uncrewed SpaceX Starship prototype rocket failed to land safely on Tuesday after a test launch from Boca Chica, Texas, and engineers were investigating, SpaceX said.

“We do appear to have lost all the data from the vehicle,” SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said in a webcast video of the rocket’s flight test. “We’re going to have to find out from the team what happened.”


The webcast view was obscured by fog, making it difficult to see the vehicle’s landing. Debris from the spacecraft was found scattered five miles (eight kilometres) away from its landing site.


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The Starship was one in a series of prototypes for the heavy-lift rocket being developed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars.

The complete Starship rocket, which will stand 394 feet (120 metres) tall with its super-heavy first-stage booster included, is SpaceX’s next-generation fully reusable launch vehicle – the centre of Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel more affordable and routine.

A spectator holds a piece of debris which was blown 5 miles (8 km) from the site where SpaceX test rocket SN11 exploded upon landing, in Boca Chica, Texas, March 30, 2021.
A spectator holds a piece of debris which was blown 5 miles (8 km) from the site where SpaceX test rocket SN11 exploded upon landing, in Boca Chica, Texas, March 30, 2021. PHOTO BY GENE BLEVINS /REUTERS
A first orbital Starship flight is planned for year’s end. Musk, who also heads the electric carmaker Tesla Inc, has said he intends to fly Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon in the Starship in 2023.

Starships SN8 and SN9 previously exploded upon landing during their test runs. SN10 achieved an upright landing earlier this month, but then went up in flames about eight minutes after touchdown.


“Looks like engine 2 had issues on ascent & didn’t reach operating chamber pressure during landing burn, but, in theory, it wasn’t needed,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday, after SN11’s test flight. “Something significant happened shortly after landing burn start. Should know what it was once we can examine the bits later today.”
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