SpaceX ship explodes into a thousand pieces

Elon Musk’s company has managed to catch up with the first stage of its Starship megarocket. But she lost all contact with the second, which exploded. Its debris could be seen above the Atlantic.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX company lost all contact with the second stage of its Starship megarocket on Thursday during a new test flight during which it nevertheless succeeded in the complex maneuver of catching up with the first stage, a feat.

This test flight was to be a show of force for SpaceX, a few hours after the success signed by Blue Origin, the space company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which carried out its first flight into orbit.

Elon Musk’s company once again showed its technical mastery by managing to catch up for the second time with the first stage of its Starship megarocket, the largest ever built.

But the loud applause and cries of joy from employees quickly dried up when a manager announced the loss of communication with the second floor. During a video broadcast, Dan Huot indicated that there had “been an anomaly with the upper floor”.

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. Impressive images notably show debris falling above the Atlantic Ocean.

“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.

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 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.

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.

Possible conflicts of interest

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 widely greeted each other on Thursday, Jeff Bezos wishing “good luck” to his rival Elon Musk before takeoff, a few hours after the latter rushed to congratulate him “for having reached the orbit on the first attempt!”

An exchange of pleasantries which stands out, but is part of 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. (jzs/ats)

More articles on (or in) space