*SpaceX has declared the experience of its Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built that exploded during flight test Thursday, April 20 ‘a success’ in spite of the failure to complete the process

Gbenga Kayode | 绿帽献妻

SpaceX鈥檚 Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, exploded Thursday, April 20, 2023, during the first test flight of the spacecraft designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

The gigantic rocket successfully blasted off at 1:33p.m. from Starbase, the private SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, South Texas, in the United States (US).

The Starship capsule had been scheduled to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the uncrewed flight, but separation failed to occur and the rocket blew up Thursday, AFP report said.

绿帽献妻 reports SpaceX also confirmed the incident in a tweet.

The company said: “As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.”

Despite the failure to complete the full flight test, SpaceX declared it a success.

It further tweeted Kate Tice, a SpaceX Quality Systems Engineer also stated: 鈥淲e cleared the tower which was our only hope.

鈥淲ith a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today鈥檚 test will help us improve Starship鈥檚 reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary.”

The US space agency NASA has picked the Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the Moon in late 2025 鈥� a mission known as Artemis III 鈥� for the first time since the Apollo programme ended in 1972, report said.

About SpaceX’s Starship

Starship consists of a 164-foot (50-meter) tall spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo that sits atop a 230-foot tall first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket.

SpaceX conducted was said to have recorded a successful test-firing of the 33 massive Raptor engines on the first-stage booster February this year, but the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket were being flown together for the first time.

The integrated test flight was intended to assess their performance in combination.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk had warned ahead of the launch that technical issues were likely, and sought to play down expectations for the inaugural test flight.

Musk said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a very risky flight.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the first launch of a very complicated, gigantic rocket.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a million ways this rocket could fail.”

鈥楳ulti-planet species鈥�

NASA will take astronauts to lunar orbit itself in November 2024, using its own heavy rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development for more than a decade, according to report.

Starship is both bigger and more powerful than SLS and capable of lifting a payload of more than 100 metric tonnes into orbit.

It generates 17 million pounds of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V rockets used to send Apollo astronauts to the Moon.

The plan for the integrated test flight was for the Super Heavy booster to separate from Starship about three minutes after launch and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.

They failed to separate however, and the booster rocket and Starship spacecraft exploded in the sky in a ball of fire four minutes into the flight.

The SpaceX CEO also noted: 鈥淚f we get far enough away from the launchpad before something goes wrong then, I think I would consider that to be a success.

鈥淛ust don鈥檛 blow up the launchpad.鈥�

Meanwhile, SpaceX foresees eventually, putting a Starship into orbit, and then refuelling it with another Starship, so it can continue on a journey to Mars or beyond.

According to Musk, the eventual objective is to establish bases on the Moon and Mars and put humans on the 鈥減ath to being a multi-planet civilisation.鈥�

Musk stated: 鈥淲e are at this brief moment in civilisation, where it is possible to become a multi-planet species. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 our goal. I think we鈥檝e got a chance.鈥�

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