SpaceX Starship breaks up over Indian Ocean in latest bumpy test
www.theguardian.com
Ship flew farther than on two previous attempts but sprang leaks and began spinning before re-entering atmosphere out of control

SpaceX mission control lost contact with the rocket after it leaked fuel and spun out of control, despite already flying halfway around the world

SpaceX mission control lost contact with its latest Starship rocket on Tuesday, as it leaked fuel, spun out of control, and made an uncontrolled re-entry after flying halfway around the world, likely disintegrating over the Indian Ocean, officials said.

“Just to confirm, we did lose contact with the ship officially a couple of minutes ago. So that brings an end to the ninth flight test,” said SpaceX’s Dan Huot during a live feed.

Starship, the futuristic rocket on which Elon Musk’s ambitions for multiplanetary travel are riding, roared into space from Texas on its ninth uncrewed test launch and flew further than the last two attempts that ended in explosive failure.

  • @WalnutLum@lemmy.ml
    7•3 days ago

    They still haven’t tested it under the Artemis payload weights, either. They’re testing with 17 ton payload and last year at the starship launch celebration Musk said starship is supposed to be capable of 50 ton payloads to LEO. For comparison SLS block 2 can lift will be able to lift 100 tons to LEO.

    The Artemis HLS is supposed to be 110 tons to the lunar surface, but supposedly loaded up in like 12 launches.

    I assume they’re still a few years away from Starship being usable.

    • insufferableninjaEnglish
      3•3 days ago

      Artemis block 2 doesn’t exist yet, so it would be more accurate to say it “will be able to” lift 100 tons.