MUSK: We're going to solve the issues that are remaining, and we'll get it to orbit, and we'll make it reusable.

His longtime dream is that it will travel to Mars. Musk says SpaceX will spend $2 billion on Starship this year alone. It wasn't supposed to work on the first try. Starship is an innovative design, the biggest rocket ever built.

But SpaceX's employees didn't seem to mind, nor did the company's founder, Elon Musk.ĮLON MUSK: The outcome was roughly what I expected.īRUMFIEL: That was Musk speaking on Twitter recently about the flight test. The lack of any kind of safety systems to help negate the force of the boosters, as well as the proximity to endangered habitats is concerning.īecause of these habitats, the FAA’s “anomaly response plan” has also come into place, which will require SpaceX to complete extra environmental mitigations before it can be issued a new launch license for Starship.(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKET THRUSTERS BELLOWING)īRUMFIEL: They kept cheering as the massive rocket pulverized the concrete under its launch pad, as one of its engines appeared to explode on the way up and even when it began to somersault out of control and disintegrate over the Gulf of Mexico.īRUMFIEL: None of that was supposed to happen. And that kind of power does come with responsibility. The two-stage rocket took off with a thrust of over 16.5 million pounds, making it the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. While it isn’t unusual for first launches to go astray, the Starship explosion was massive, especially when you look at how big the rocket itself is. This, of course, only heightens the chance that delays to NASA’s Artemis III might happen, as Starship is intended to act as the landing vessel when the space agency returns to the Moon later this decade.

However, the investigators will still need to conclude that the public isn’t in any kind of danger before Starship can even attempt to launch again. It is important to remember that these FAA mishap investigations are standard practice when something like the Starship explosion happens. The debris reportedly rained down upon the nesting grounds of birds and sea turtles across Boca Chica’s beaches. More photos from the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket /tnd6Vkw5uR- SpaceX April 23, 2023Īdditionally, the reports say that dust and debris from the test launch rained down on the residents of nearby Port Isabel, Texas, a small town roughly 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the launchpad.

Starship by Editorial Planeta S.A.U.