Starship на стартовому майданчику / SpaseX
The seventh test flight of Starship had two main objectives — to replicate the success of the first stage “landing” and to test the updated version of the spacecraft, but unfortunately, things did not go as planned with the second item for SpaceX.
The mega-rocket, standing 123 meters tall, launched from the Starbase space base in South Texas at 00:36 Kyiv time, reached the necessary altitude, and successfully completed the stage separation process. Interestingly, both stages ultimately provided the spectators with incredible spectacles: the first by landing back into the arms of the Mechazilla tower for the second time, and the second by creating a light show with fragments falling after being detonated.
Communication with the second stage was lost around the 8th minute after the flight’s start. The telemetry on the screen showed that 5 engines had shut down sequentially — at 8 minutes 25 seconds, the screen was showing only one engine operating, however, the speed and altitude of the spacecraft were no longer updated.
“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”, — wrote Elon Musk, posting a video of the rocket debris falling.
Later, Musk clarified that the failure was preliminarily caused by a leak of oxygen and fuel in the cavity above the fire-resistant partition of the engine, which was large enough to create pressure exceeding the capacity of the ventilation port.
It should be noted that an updated version of Starship was used for the seventh test flight. The front fins were reduced and moved from the joint where more heat accumulates, and the ship itself was made a couple of meters taller; also, in some places, heat shield tiles were intentionally omitted (presumably to conduct a stress test and see how the ship would handle re-entry into the atmosphere), and the fuel tank volume was increased by 25%. This time, Starship also carried a payload — mockups of Starlink satellites, which eventually exploded along with the ship.
Starship is a rocket that, according to Elon Musk, will one day take humans to Mars (and during the broadcast, it was noted that the first flight to the Red Planet is expected to take place by the end of 2026). NASA is also paying SpaceX to develop a version of the vehicle for returning American astronauts to the Moon.
Previous test flights, although not perfect, demonstrated steady progress — the seventh, however, seems to have been an exception. For this year, SpaceX has increased the planned number of Starship launches to 25, but when the next one will take place is unknown, considering that local regulators may require an investigation into the spacecraft’s issues before granting official permission.