“We lost all communication with the ship,” Dan Huot said during a video broadcast, before specifying that there had “been an anomaly with the upper stage”.
SpaceX then confirmed on its networks that the Starship, giving its name to the entire rocket, had been the subject of an “unscheduled rapid disassembly”. In other words: it exploded.
“Success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve the reliability of Starship,” assured the company on X, a network of which Elon Musk is also the owner.
The latter clarified on X that the explosion was probably triggered by an “oxygen/fuel leak”.
For its part, the American aviation regulator, the FAA, reported having “briefly slowed down and diverted planes around the area where space vehicle debris fell”. “Normal operations have resumed,” he added in a statement.
The outgoing head of NASA, Bill Nelson, congratulated SpaceX for having recovered the propellant, emphasizing on X that “spaceflight (was) not easy”.
Failure in front of Trump
After having succeeded last October in recovering the rocket’s propellant, named Super Heavy, for the first time, Elon Musk sought to prove that this technical feat was not the result of chance.
Successfully: a few minutes after the launch and separation of the two stages, the booster descended in a controlled manner towards the launch pad, where it was immobilized by mechanical arms installed on the launch tower, nicknamed “the wands”.
Hoping to repeat this impressive maneuver in November in the presence of President-elect Donald Trump, SpaceX had to abandon the attempt shortly after takeoff, leaving the booster to disintegrate in the Gulf of Mexico.
Since the last test, “major improvements” had been made to Starship, a rocket designed to go to the Moon and Mars, SpaceX said.
The company is known for stringing together high-risk tests in order to quickly adapt its rocket depending on the problems encountered. A risky method which has made it successful, SpaceX having taken a big lead over its competitor Blue Origin.
Possible conflicts of interest
With his new New Glenn rocket, Jeff Bezos, who has adopted a more cautious approach, intends to challenge Elon Musk’s domination of the commercial orbital flight market.
The two richest men in the world founded their space companies in the early 2000s and have been competing for star power in the field ever since.
Known for not getting along, they nevertheless welcomed their respective launches on Thursday, Jeff Bezos wishing “good luck” to his rival Elon Musk before takeoff, a few hours after the latter was quick to congratulate him “for having reached orbit on the first attempt!”
An exchange of pleasantries which is out of place but fits into a context of general rapprochement in the tech world around Donald Trump: most of the sector’s bosses will attend his inauguration on Monday.
Elon Musk spent tens of millions of dollars supporting the Republican’s presidential campaign and landed an advisory job in exchange, raising questions about possible conflicts of interest with the government.
Their great rapprochement also raises concerns about possible negative repercussions for the activities of Jeff Bezos.
