SpaceX spacecraft sets back during seventh test launch

The seventh test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket failed on Thursday, when the rocket's upper stage suffered a catastrophic failure and disappeared en route to space.

SpaceX was able to achieve some success by repeating the feat of returning its massive super-heavy booster to its launch pad. But data showed that some of the upper stage's engines stopped midway through, cutting off communications between the ground and the upper stage vehicle, known as Starship, about eight and a half minutes after liftoff.

Starship is a rocket that company founder Elon Musk claims will one day take people to Mars. NASA is also paying SpaceX to develop a vehicle to return American astronauts to the moon.

In its first six test flights, SpaceX demonstrated that it can launch the largest rocket ever into space and return it to Earth largely intact. Over the next year, the company hopes to turn “more or less” into “definitely” and prove other capabilities.

The launch took place at 5:37 p.m. ET from Starbase, SpaceX's launch site in south Texas.

After pushing the rocket through the thickest part of the atmosphere, the booster descended and returned to the launch pad. It was then successfully captured by two mechanical arms on the launch tower.

Immediately after that, trouble occurred with the upper spacecraft.

“This indicates that there was an anomaly in the upper stage,” said Dan Huot, one of the hosts of SpaceX's video stream. “We believe the vehicle is lost.”

The upper spacecraft was scheduled to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour after liftoff.

What is a starship?

The Starship rocket system is the largest ever built, at 403 feet tall, or nearly 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty, including its pedestal.

And the rocket booster has the most engines ever. The super heavy booster at the bottom of the rocket has 33 of SpaceX's powerful Raptor engines sticking out. These engines generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle as they lift Starship off its launch pad in South Texas.

The top, also known as Starship or Ship for short, looks like a shiny rocket from a 1950s science fiction movie and is made of stainless steel with large fins. This is the upper stage bound for orbit and could eventually carry humans to the moon or Mars.

What happened during the last flight?

President-elect Donald J. Trump attended the sixth test flight on Nov. 19 and visited Musk in the launch control room. The upper Starship flew in a suborbit halfway around the Earth, successfully re-entered the atmosphere, performed a landing maneuver, flipped to a vertical position, and then quietly dropped a drop of water into the Indian Ocean about an hour after liftoff.

Not unexpectedly, it then tipped over and exploded.

The booster also successfully entered the atmosphere. But SpaceX's plans to capture the feat, accomplished during its fifth test flight, were scrapped after a sensor in the mechanical arm was damaged during liftoff. The booster was diverted to the Gulf of Mexico.

What will be different on the seventh flight?

Starship's seventh test flight included significant design changes to its propulsion, heat shield, and control systems. The rocket was extended several feet higher than earlier Starships, and had room for a larger tank that could hold 25% more propellant. The flaps near the top of Starship were smaller and had been moved toward the tip to reduce damage from searing heat during reentry.

While in space, the Starship was to test a new system similar to the PEZ candy dispenser. The plan was to launch 10 dummy satellites similar in size and shape to next-generation spacecraft that will be deployed on SpaceX's Starlink internet service. The dummy satellite would have followed Starship's orbit and burned up in the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

When will starships be able to send people into space?

Thursday's apparent failure will delay SpaceX's ambitious and rapid development schedule.

Even before the failure, it could have been at least several years away from being ready for manned flight. NASA plans to use a version of Starship to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission, currently scheduled for 2027.

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payment services company Shift4 and a man who has flown into space twice on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, was scheduled to take part in Starship's first manned flight. . But Mr. Isaacman was chosen by Mr. Trump to be NASA's next administrator, so he is likely to remain in the field, at least for the time being.