SpaceX’s high-altitude Starship rocket prototype exploded during its attempted landing, but founder Elon Musk didn’t seem to mind.
SpaceX launched the Serial Number 8 rocket on Wednesday with a goal of flying roughly 41,000 feet, far higher than the previous 500-foot tests conducted earlier in 2020 with SN5 and SN6 prototypes, according to CNBC.
While the rocket successfully launched, reached its intended altitude, and reoriented itself from a horizontal flight position to the vertical landing position, the rocket’s descent was not slowed enough by the propulsion system, and the rocket combusted on impact.
Suicide burn was a little late, RIP SN8 pic.twitter.com/mQ5F2O2f2Y
— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) December 9, 2020
The rocket’s 11-minute flight might have ended with a bang, but Musk appeared optimistic, calling the mission a success and congratulating the SpaceX team.
“Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!” Musk wrote on Twitter. “Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & [rapid unscheduled disassembly], but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!”
Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2020
Musk had predicted as recently as November that the SN8 rocket would not return to Earth in one piece, saying that “lots of things need to go right” and giving the rocket a “1/3 chance” of landing successfully.
Lot of things need to go right, so maybe 1/3 chance
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2020
The Starship rockets are next-generation flight technology that would be able to launch cargo and up to 100 people at a time on missions to the moon and, eventually, Mars. Unlike SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which are designed so that only the first-stage rockets are recoverable, the Starship rockets are designed to be the first fully reusable spacecraft — launching and landing in one piece like an airplane.
SpaceX has built 10 Starship prototypes so far, with SN9 “almost ready to move to the [launch] pad,” according to the SpaceX website.
SpaceX is planning its first orbital test flight as soon as 2021, according to CNBC.
