Elon Musk's company aimed to launch a roughly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border on a trip around the world. There were no people or satellites in it.
Pictures show several of the 33 main engines not firing as the rocket climbed from the launch pad to an altitude of 24 miles (39 km). There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how many engines failed to burn or shut down prematurely.
Pictures show several of the 33 main engines not firing as the rocket climbed from the launch pad to an altitude of 24 miles (39 km). There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how many engines failed to burn or shut down prematurely.
The booster was supposed to be away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but it didn't. The rocket began to fall and then fell into the bay four minutes into the flight and exploded.
After separation, the spacecraft was to attempt to circle the globe, before crashing into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
Crowds of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As soon as he got up, the crowd shouted: "Go, baby, go!"
Musk called it an "exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months," Musk called it in a tweet.
In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk offered 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit.
"You never quite know what's going to happen," said SpaceX live stream observer and engineer John Insperker. "But as we promised, the excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a great finish."
The company plans to use Starship to send people and equipment to the Moon and eventually Mars. NASA has reserved a starship for its next moonwalking team, and wealthy tourists are already booking lunar flybys.
This was the second launch attempt. Monday's attempt was aborted by a frozen booster valve.
At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily outshines NASA's moon rockets - past, present, and future. The stainless-steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with rapid changeovers, dramatically reducing costs, as SpaceX's smaller Falcon rockets took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. What is it? Nothing was left of the test flight.
The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles in the atmosphere during testing a few years ago, only landing successfully once. But it was to be the inaugural launch of a first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.
SpaceX has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for more test flights. Musk wants to fire them one by one, so he can start using starships to send satellites into low Earth orbit and then put people on board.
After separation, the spacecraft was to attempt to circle the globe, before crashing into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
Crowds of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As soon as he got up, the crowd shouted: "Go, baby, go!"
Musk called it an "exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months," Musk called it in a tweet.
In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk offered 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit.
"You never quite know what's going to happen," said SpaceX live stream observer and engineer John Insperker. "But as we promised, the excitement is guaranteed and Starship gave us a great finish."
The company plans to use Starship to send people and equipment to the Moon and eventually Mars. NASA has reserved a starship for its next moonwalking team, and wealthy tourists are already booking lunar flybys.
This was the second launch attempt. Monday's attempt was aborted by a frozen booster valve.
At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily outshines NASA's moon rockets - past, present, and future. The stainless-steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with rapid changeovers, dramatically reducing costs, as SpaceX's smaller Falcon rockets took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. What is it? Nothing was left of the test flight.
The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles in the atmosphere during testing a few years ago, only landing successfully once. But it was to be the inaugural launch of a first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.
SpaceX has more boosters and spacecraft lined up for more test flights. Musk wants to fire them one by one, so he can start using starships to send satellites into low Earth orbit and then put people on board.
