SpaceX\u2019s Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday but spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important testing goals, bringing fresh engineering hurdles to CEO Elon Musk\u2019s increasingly turbulent Mars rocket programme. The 400-foot tall (122 metre) Starship rocket system, the core of Musk\u2019s goal of sending humans to Mars, lifted off from SpaceX\u2019s Starbase, Texas, launch site, flying beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year that sent debris streaking over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to divert course. For the latest launch, the ninth full test mission of Starship since the first attempt in April 2023, the upper-stage cruise vessel was lofted to space atop a previously flown booster \u2014 a first such demonstration of the booster\u2019s reusability. But SpaceX lost contact with the 232-foot lower-stage booster during its descent before it plunged into the sea, rather than making the controlled splashdown the company had planned. Starship, meanwhile, continued into suborbital space but began to spin uncontrollably roughly 30 minutes into the mission. The errant spiraling came after SpaceX cancelled a plan to deploy eight mock Starlink satellites into space \u2014 the rocket\u2019s \u201cPez\u201d candy dispenser-like mechanism failed to work as designed. \u201cNot looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today,\u201d SpaceX broadcaster Dan Huot said on a company livestream. Musk was scheduled to deliver an update on his space exploration ambitions in a speech from Starbase following the test flight, billed as a livestream presentation about \u201cThe Road to Making Life Multiplanetary.\u201d Hours later, he had yet to give the speech and there was no sign that he intended to do so. In a post on X, Musk touted Starship\u2019s scheduled shutdown of an engine in space, a step previous test flights achieved last year. He said a leak on Starship\u2019s primary fuel tank led to its loss of control. \u201cLot of good data to review,\u201d he said. \u201cLaunch cadence for next three flights will be faster, at approximately one every three to four weeks.\u201d SpaceX has said the Starship models that have flown this year bear significant design upgrades from previous prototypes, as thousands of company employees work to build a multi-purpose rocket capable of putting massive batches of satellites in space, carrying humans back to the moon and ultimately ferrying astronauts to Mars. Risk-tolerant The recent setbacks indicate SpaceX is struggling to overcome a complicated chapter of Starship\u2019s multibillion-dollar development. But the company\u2019s engineering culture, widely considered more risk-tolerant than many of the aerospace industry\u2019s more established players, is built on a flight-testing strategy that pushes spacecraft to the point of failure, then fine-tunes improvements through frequent repetition. Starship\u2019s planned trajectory for Tuesday included a nearly full orbit around Earth for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean to test new designs of its heat shield tiles and revised flaps for steering its blazing re-entry and descent through Earth\u2019s atmosphere. But its early demise, appearing as a fireball streaking eastward through the night sky over southern Africa, puts another pause in Musk\u2019s speedy development goals for a rocket bound to play a central role in the US space programme. NASA plans to use the rocket to land humans on the moon in 2027, though that moon programme faces turmoil amid Musk\u2019s Mars-focused influence over US President Donald Trump\u2019s administration. Mishap probe Federal regulators had granted SpaceX a licence for Starship\u2019s latest flight attempt four days ago, capping a mishap investigation that had grounded Starship for nearly two months. The last two test flights \u2014 in January and March \u2014 were cut short moments after liftoff as the vehicles blew to pieces on ascent, raining debris over parts of the Caribbean and disrupting scores of commercial airline flights in the region. The Federal Aviation Administration expanded debris hazard zones around the ascent path for Tuesday\u2019s launch. The previous back-to-back failures occurred in early test-flight phases that SpaceX had easily achieved before, in a striking setback to a program that Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who founded the rocket company in 2002, had sought to accelerate this year. Musk, the world\u2019s wealthiest individual and a key supporter of US President Donald Trump, was especially eager for a success after vowing in recent days to refocus his attention on his various business ventures, including SpaceX, following a tumultuous foray into national politics and his attempts at cutting government bureaucracy. Closer to home, Musk also sees Starship as eventually replacing the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as the workhorse in the company\u2019s commercial launch business, which already lofts most of the world\u2019s satellites and other payloads to low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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