Tehran, IRNA — The Starship spacecraft from SpaceX has exploded minutes after taking off from Texas, leading to the collapse of a mission intended to deploy dummy satellites, representing the second failure in Elon Musk's Mars rocket program this year.
The 123-meter rocket system lifted off at about 6.30pm ET (2300 GMT) from SpaceX’s sprawling Boca Chica, Texas, rocket facilities, on Thursday with its Super Heavy first-stage booster returning to land as planned, the Guardian has reported.
But minutes later, SpaceX’s livestream showed the Starship upper stage spinning in space, while a visualization of the rocket’s engines showed multiple engines shut down before the company confirmed it had lost contact with the ship.
“Unfortunately, this happened last time, too, so we’ve got some practice now,” Dan Huot, a SpaceX spokesperson, said on the livestream.
A month ago, the company's seventh Starship flight also ended in an explosive failure.
The back-to-back incidents mark a setback for a program Musk has sought to speed up this year.
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