The Starship launch failed, but progress was made

The second test launch of a super-heavy launch vehicle with the “Starship” ship of Elon Musk’s SpaceX company ended with the explosion of the first stage separated from the rocket and the loss of communication with the second stage – the planned test program was not completed. The company, however, considers the launch a success, progress has been made compared to the first test of the rocket, which took place in April.

Then the rocket exploded a few minutes after launch, reaching a height of 38 kilometers. This time, the flight proceeded normally until the moment of separation of the first stage, which was supposed to return to Earth. Instead, it exploded shortly after separation. The second stage continued its flight, but communication with the ship was interrupted when it reached an altitude of 148 kilometers, that is, it crossed the official limit of space. It was planned that Starship would make a suborbital flight and return to Earth.

Broadcast of the launch, which took place at the Boca Chica Spaceport in Texas, was conducted in SpaceX social networks. Elon Musk congratulated the SpaceX team with the launch. The head of NASA, Bill Nelson, also spoke with congratulations, notedthat NASA and SpaceX “will return humanity to the moon, send it to Mars and beyond.”