SpaceX Starship prototype blasts off for test flight and crashes in fireball
- SpaceX’s first high-altitude test flight ended in a massive fireball
- Founder Elon Musk calls test flight a success even with fiery finale
A prototype of the future giant SpaceX rocket Starship – which the company hopes will become its go-to for Mars missions – crashed in a fiery explosion during a test launch along the Texas coast Wednesday.
But the company line was upbeat as a live-stream of the launch displayed the on-screen message “AWESOME TEST. CONGRATS STARSHIP TEAM!”
“Mars, here we come!!” SpaceX founder Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted just minutes after the flight, explaining that a too-fast landing speed was to blame for the crash.
He recounted the successful parts of the rocket’s short late afternoon trip: the take-off, the change of position in flight and its (pre-explosion) precise landing trajectory.
“We got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team,” he tweeted.
Wednesday’s test launch took off and ascended properly in a seemingly straight line, before one and then another of its engines went out. After 4 minutes and 45 seconds of flight, its third engine extinguished and the rocket began its descent in its expected position.