“Starship” reached several milestones, but did not survive the return

SpaceX’s third “Starship” test flight was initially a success: the spacecraft was able to fire all its engines and reach space. “Starship” was then able to shut down the engines as planned.

However, the largest rocket system ever built failed to complete its third test flight. The unmanned ‘Starship’ reached space after lifting off from the Texas cosmodrome on Thursday, but was subsequently destroyed when it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, as commentators on space company SpaceX’s live stream said.

The spacecraft was flying at a speed that would have been close enough to enter Earth’s orbit, but that was not the goal today.

The successful launch and launch is a milestone and a major victory for SpaceX, which at this point had lost both the spacecraft and the rocket booster on both previous test flights. “We are further along than ever before,” said Dan Huot, media spokesman at SpaceX.

The largest rocket system ever built in space history completed a third test flight on Thursday. It started at 2:25 PM Swiss time. A test flight of about an hour was planned, after which both rocket stages would land in the sea.

The lower rocket stage also attempted to land but subsequently failed, as commentators on the livestream reported. “We lost the rocket phase, so we need to look at the data again.” The upper rocket stage managed to reach space for the first time. This means that significantly more goals were achieved in the third trial than in the previous two.

During an initial test last April, the entire missile system exploded after just a few minutes. During a second test in November, the two rocket stages separated and the upper one continued to fly for a while, but shortly afterwards both exploded separately.

The ‘Starship’ – consisting of the approximately 70 meter long ‘Super Heavy’ booster and the approximately 50 meter long upper stage, also called ‘Starship’ – is intended to enable manned missions to the Moon and Mars. The system is designed so that the spacecraft and rocket can be reused after return to Earth. The system, which is approximately 120 meters long in total, will be able to transport more than 100 tons of freight in the future. NASA wants to take astronauts to the moon with the ‘Starship’. SpaceX hopes to one day reach Mars. (lacquer/sda/dpa)