It’s a mixed success for SpaceX. Elon Musk’s company once again succeeded, Thursday, January 16, in Texas, in catching up with the first stage of its Starship megarocket after a test flight, a technical feat that it had so far only achieved only once. But then she lost the second floor, following a « anomalies » according to Elon Musk’s company.
“We lost all communication with the ship (…) this clearly indicates to us that there was an anomaly with the upper floor”said Dan Huot, before another SpaceX manager confirmed that they had indeed “lost the ship”.
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After the separation of the two stages of the rocket, the booster named Super Heavy descended in a controlled manner towards the launch pad and was immobilized by mechanical arms installed on the launch tower, nicknamed “the chopsticks”according to the company’s video broadcast.
Starship launched into the air shortly after 4:37 p.m. local time (11:37 p.m. in Paris). The liftoff occurred on the same day as the first launch of its competitor Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which was a success.
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SpaceX aims to use Starship to colonize Mars. The development of the spacecraft is also closely monitored by NASA, which is counting on it to bring its astronauts back to the surface of the Moon.
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