SpaceX's Starship explodes during ascent in its seventh test flight

image via Engadget

January 17, 2025, 3:44 AM

• •SpaceX's Starship test flight ended in an explosion over the Atlantic Ocean.
• •The vehicle's upper stage 'experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn'.
• •SpaceX said it will continue reviewing data from the test to understand the explosion's root cause.

SpaceX's Starship test flight ended in an explosion when the vehicle's upper stage 'experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn' over the Atlantic Ocean. The Federal Aviation Administration issued an advisory for pilots after the incident, warning them about falling debris in certain areas. SpaceX said before the test that it's meant to 'launch a new generation ship with significant upgrades' and it was supposed to conduct Starship's first payload deployment test with the help of 10 Starlink simulators. Despite the Starship's upper stage burning up, the test was still partially a success. The Ship's Raptor engines fired up during the ascent burn before the ground team lost contact with it around 8 minutes into the flight. SpaceX was also able to retrieve the Super Heavy booster, catching the vehicle's first stage with the mechanical arms on its Starbase launch tower.

Read original article