Musk's Starship Crashes For Second Time In Row

It started tumbling after eight minutes of its flight.

SpaceX's Starship spacecraft went out of control and collapsed during its eighth test flight. It was another setback for billionaire Elon Musk's company less than two months after its last mission ended in an explosion.

This is reported by Bloomberg.

According to the publication, a few minutes after liftoff from south Texas on Thursday, the two parts of the rocket separated as planned. The super-heavy booster then returned to the ground, where it was caught in mid-air by the so-called ‘giant mechanical arms’ of the launch tower.

However, about 8 minutes into the flight, Starship began tumbling on its way into space, and eventually the mission control centre lost contact with the object.

While Starship launched all six Raptor engines as planned, some engines started failing before the engines were supposed to shut down, a SpaceX broadcast presenter said. At that point, Starship began to spin out of control.

The company later released a statement on the X social network saying that Starship had broken apart and that the company was working with safety officials.

Next, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Air Traffic Control System Command Centre issued an automatic warning, notifying operators of the falling debris. The agency also imposed a departure ban (‘ground stop’) at some Florida airports due to the space debris, which was later lifted.

The FAA said in an emailed statement that it had temporarily slowed aircraft traffic outside the debris impact zone. The agency will demand that SpaceX investigate the incident, as it usually does in the case of an explosion.

Eyewitnesses posted on X videos of the debris falling near the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic.

The flight was the second consecutive Starship launch that was aborted at about the eighth minute. The company had planned to test a number of upgrades, including Starship's ability to launch satellites into space - this was supposed to happen last time, but the flight was terminated early.

SpaceX also planned to test several other upgrades during this flight, including stronger flaps that the rocket uses for atmospheric control, as well as improved navigation and propulsion systems.

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