During the launch, all 33 Raptor engines were successfully ignited, and the spaceship disconnected from the Super Aby launcher as planned, but then the launcher exploded, and SpaceX decided to blow up the spaceship itself as well
Space-X's Starship passenger spacecraft was launched today (Saturday) at eight o'clock in the morning US Central time, four in the afternoon in Israel for its second test flight, which ended in an explosion and an "unplanned disassembly" first of the Super Abi launcher, and then, In remote teaching, also of the spaceship itself. The spacecraft was unmanned.
the launcher The largest ever built, it took off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas. About 400 spectators gathered to watch the impressive launch. The missile, which consists of two stages - a super heavy launcher and a starship upper spacecraft - reaches a height of 122 meters and can be seen from a great distance. This is the second test flight of the integrated missile, after a failure in April last year that ended in the explosion and destruction of the missile. This time, the separation between the stages was successful, but shortly after, the main launcher exploded and the spacecraft also exploded before reaching orbit.
SpaceX calls it a success and says the data collected will be used to improve the rocket for the next flight. The Civil Aviation Authority of the United States, FAA will oversee the investigation of the Space-X transport malfunction to ensure that Space-X complies with the investigation plan approved by the FAA and other regulatory requirements," the agency tweeted on Twitter-X. There were no reports of injuries or damage to public property as a result of the flight, the FAA added in another post.
The FAA also oversaw the investigation that followed Starship's first test mission, which launched from Starbase on April 20, 2022. The vehicle experienced several problems on that flight; Several of the Raptor 33's first-stage engines, for example, shut down early, and its two stages—a super-heavy launcher and a starship upper stage—failed to separate as planned. As a result, SpaceX commanded the overturned vehicle to detonate, which occurred four minutes after liftoff. That launch also damaged some of Starbase's infrastructure. An explosion beneath the facility's orbital launcher sent a shower of concrete chunks and other debris onto and around the launch pad. The FAA closed its investigation into that malfunction on September 8, but other regulatory boxes still needed to be ticked before Starship could fly again. The agency finally granted a launch license on November 15, after completing a safety audit and environmental assessment.
On yesterday's launch, all 33 Super Abby engines ignited upon ignition, and the launcher successfully disengaged from the upper starship stage as planned. Starship's Raptor 6 engines burned for an extended period of time, taking the spacecraft to a maximum altitude of 148 km, according to telemetry provided by SpaceX during its launch broadcast. During the flight from April 2022, Starship only reached a height of 39 km above the ground. It is difficult to estimate when the next launch will take place; It depends on the results of the investigation, and how many adjustments SpaceX may need before the FAA re-certifies the Starship for takeoff.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
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As a reminder, when the space programs began to develop in the early 60s there were many failures for both the Russians and the Russians. Time was needed for learning lessons and drawing necessary engineering conclusions. Such a process is inevitable. Everything is an innovative engineering project.
Call it a failure. Apparently the author has never developed a complex project in his life. Great progress would better describe this experiment.
The appearance is perfect 33 new engines without many previous attempts were successfully started.
The launch facility successfully stood up without visible damage in the most powerful launch ever.
The separation process that was tried for the first time between the first stage and the second apparently worked successfully, the first time in the world that such a process was tried.
The second stage was launched with complete success and almost reached the desired speed and altitude.
The second stage engines of two types worked.
The self-destruct facilities worked this time.
....
Again a failure to understand the development principles of SpaceX.
Space-X advocates rapid development, building lots of prototypes, constant experimentation and improvement. Elon Musk tells his engineers that "if you haven't failed - you haven't gone far enough". And yesterday he launched the largest spacecraft ever, powered by the most advanced rocket engine ever built, and has almost reached orbit (the second stage was not planned to reach orbit). In doing so it (again) defeated competitors like Blue Origin who still, none of their rockets came even close to this feat.
So what did we have there?
* The rocket did not destroy the launch pad.
* All engines, 33 + 6 were turned on and operated as required.
* The separation of the second phase from the first was successful.
* There were apparently problems rotating the first stage in preparation for decelerating the stage before re-entering the atmosphere. Fuel may not have reached some of the engines.
* The second stage continued to operate until almost the planned end of the engines' operation (and maybe it reached it? It is not clear).
* Any other launch system other than SpaceX (and apart from Rocket-Lab's electron) has no ability to try to return the first stage, and certainly not the second, so that SpaceX is already light years ahead of all competitors.
* With the current shape of NASA and SLS, SpaceX is currently the only option to defeat the Chinese in the new space race.
And here Scott Manley explains about the launch, successes and failures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF2C7xE9Mj4&t=1s