SpaceX
For the third time in a year, SpaceX is attempting a successful test flight with Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The previous two attempts each ended with an explosion. Follow along above from 12.45 pm to see if they will succeed this time.
Arno Vanhollebeke, Dominique Deckmyn
Today at 12:40
In April, Starship’s first flight ended after about four minutes. The missile then deviated and detonated after about 4 minutes. It then took quite some time before the Federal Aviation Administration approved a new launch. First improvements had to be made to the rocket and the launch pad, and in November the time had come.
This time Starship got a lot further. Thus, the first stage, the Super Heavy booster, was successfully jettisoned and Starship reached space. After 10 minutes things still went wrong, but SpaceX described the flight as a success. According to the original schedule, the flight would take Starship into orbit around Earth and land after 90 minutes.
It was also intended that the Super Heavy would land in a controlled manner in the Gulf of Mexico after separation, but that failed. The Super Heavy was detonated. But Starship initially continued its flight until the data connection was lost. Then the command was given to destroy the aircraft.
