The SpaceX rocket successfully took off but its two stages subsequently exploded. This was the second test flight for Starship.
A mixed success for the Starship rocket, Saturday November 18. After a successful takeoff from Texas, both stages of the rocket exploded, shortly after their successful separation. The announcement was made live, from the video stream set up to follow this second launch. This rocket, created by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, is the most powerful ever invented. According to SpaceX, the propulsion stage and the ship experienced an “unplanned rapid disassembly”. The 120 meter high rocket took off around 1 p.m. from the SpaceX base in Boca Chica. Starship was to make “almost a complete tour of the Earth” before landing in the Pacific near Hawaii, the same program as the first flight in April.
A rocket to return to the Moon
This was the second test flight for this rocket, which had experienced a huge explosion during its first test flight last April, well before the separation of the two stages. The company therefore made progress this Saturday, November 18, which is why the head of NASA wanted to congratulate SpaceX for the progress made. This second flight was very important for NASA, which is counting on this spacecraft for its return missions to the Moon from 2025. The company SpaceX hopes that its rocket will one day help colonize Mars. The company, for its part, congratulated itself on X (formerly Twitter): a “second exciting integrated flight test”. “The spacecraft successfully took off thanks to the power of the 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy Booster and successfully crossed the stage separation,” justified the company.