"Unplanned Rapid Disintegration Occurs"
The next-generation spacecraft Starship, operated by Elon Musk's space company SpaceX, is undertaking its 8th Earth orbit test flight on the 6th (local time). The spacecraft did not complete the originally planned one-hour test flight. / Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News
Elon Musk's space company SpaceX's 8th Earth orbit test flight of the large spacecraft Starship, developed with the goal of lunar and Mars exploration, has once again ended in failure.
On the 6th at 5:30 PM (Central Time, US), SpaceX launched Starship from the Starbase space launch facility on the southern coast of Boca Chica, Texas. As with previous test flights, SpaceX live-streamed the launch process online.
About three minutes after launch, the Starship's first-stage rocket booster and second-stage spacecraft separated smoothly, and the first-stage booster returned to the launch pad as planned, landing on the ground launch tower's aerial "chopstick arm" equipment known as "Mechazilla." However, the second-stage spacecraft, which was flying in Earth orbit toward the Indian Ocean, suddenly disappeared from the screen a few minutes later.
SpaceX engineers who were broadcasting the test flight said, "After Starship began to spin, it lost attitude control, and communication was lost shortly thereafter." They added, "Unfortunately, this also happened last time. Moving forward, we will definitely review and learn a lot."
The test flight, which was scheduled to last about an hour, was terminated early. Later, SpaceX posted on X (formerly Twitter), stating, "Starship experienced an unplanned rapid disintegration during ascent burn and communication was lost. Our team immediately cooperated with safety authorities to execute the pre-planned emergency response." The term "unplanned rapid disintegration" refers to a sudden vehicle explosion or destruction.
AP News reported that debris was seen raining down over Florida airspace shortly after the Starship explosion. Reuters reported that as Starship debris fell, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted aircraft takeoffs from four airports in Florida for about an hour due to concerns over flight safety for other aircraft.
SpaceX also experienced failure during the 7th test flight on January 16, when the spacecraft exploded midair about 8 minutes and 30 seconds after launch. The cause of that failure was reported to be a fuel leak. Starship's Earth orbit test flights are conducted as unmanned flights without any crew onboard.
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