There were multiple postponements in Boca Chica, within Starbase, Starship’s space center in Texas. SpaceX, which planned to start the countdown for the seventh flight of its mega-rocket on January 10, postponed it to the following Monday, then during the week, before starting the 33 Raptor engines of its colossus 123 meters high on Thursday January 17. Among these engines of booster 14, one of them, called Raptor 314, was used during the fifth flight, on booster 12. A new, more discreet feat which accompanies the arrival of a new Starship vessel, more large, with a 25% increased tank, and more than 30 on-board cameras.
With this trifle of equipment, SpaceX was first able to repeat its feat of October 15, when we discovered for the first time the extent of the work of the American company to ensure the reuse of its main booster. ingenious way. A feat, confirmed today shortly after 11 p.m. in France, thanks to the arms of the “Mechazilla” launch pad. Under a big blue sky on the banks of the Gulf of Mexico, the 145 meter tower received Super Heavy without incident, despite the failure of one of the thirteen Raptor engines, which had been shut down since the separation of the main stage from the Starship. .
The separation of the two stages occurred shortly after 2 minutes and 45 seconds, while the rocket was already progressing at an altitude of more than 67 kilometers, at a speed of 4,200 km/h. At that time, the SpaceX teams made the decision to follow the initial plan and send the Super Heavy stage back towards its launch tower, thanks to favorable weather and a nominal trajectory. Three minutes later, the colossus reached the atmosphere again to find itself less than 3 kilometers from the ground at a still supersonic speed, above 1,400 km/h. In a few seconds, it reduced its speed to zero, thanks to the return of the defective Raptor. Thirteen engines brought to full speed to brake and guide the gigantic cylinder between the wands of Mechazilla.
SpaceX lost its Starship, which exploded
The rest of the mission did not go as planned for SpaceX. The seventh flight of Starship, the upper stage, could not follow what it was intended for, namely an orbit, with a delivery of Starlink satellite simulators, then a return to Earth, in the ocean Indian. Shortly after twenty minutes of live broadcast, SpaceX preferred to cut off the live broadcast when the company no longer had any news from the ship, and could not communicate with it. “We can confirm that we did indeed lose the ship,” SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said.
“We obviously need to review all the data. It’s going to take time. In the next few hours, the next few days, we will determine exactly what happened, come back, make the next flight, go further.”added Dan Huot, communications manager, before adding: “as a reminder, this is an experimental vehicle test”. A few minutes earlier, all data shared by Starship during the live broadcast stopped, and the ship left us with the final information that all but one of its engines had shut down, as planned.
An hour after the broadcast ended, the aerospace company returned to social network X to provide news. SpaceX has thus confirmed an “unscheduled rapid disassembly”, which could simply be translated as a total and unforeseen explosion of the machine. It remains to be seen where the debris will land again. According to data from FlightRadar24, many flights were diverted to the north of the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. This could be the area where SpaceX expects to see its craft return to the atmosphere.
-SpaceX has not had time to work on putting its ship into orbit and re-entering the atmosphere, which, remember, is brand new compared to the previous one. Despite being mounted on the same booster as the previous flights, and although it looks very similar to the other Starships, this new ship is larger, has new rocket engines, new thermal protection and obviously a totally different geometry. In view of the recovery of the main stage, SpaceX should now focus on the development of the orbital phases and the reception of the Starship, during 2025.
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It is also in the first half of 2025 that SpaceX intends to catch up with Starship with its launch tower. To do this, however, you will have to make a choice and sacrifice the booster. Otherwise, SpaceX will need to have a second launch pad ready in time. For such a mission, the Starship must imperatively certify its ability to enter orbit and then deorbit correctly, since it will have to complete at least one trip around the Earth, then fly over American lands, before returning to rest in Boca Chica in Texas, stronghold of Starbase.
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