after a successful takeoff, the Starship rocket explodes in mid-flight

The first test flight of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket ended on Thursday, April 20, 2023 with an explosion in mid-flight, just three minutes after takeoff.

As you may know, SpaceX was to carry out this Thursday, April 20, 2023 the very first test flight of its giant Starship rocket. Originally scheduled for Monday, the space agency was forced to postpone the operation to a later date due to a problem on a pressurization valve.

The appointment was therefore given this Thursday, April 20, a symbolic date for Elon Musk, to make this first orbital flight since the base of Boca Chica in Texas. For the occasion, hundreds of spectators went on site to admire the show.

Starship took off well… before exploding in flight

While the rocket was to take off around 3:30 p.m., it was finally necessary to wait a few additional minutes to see this mastodon take the direction of space.

Unfortunately, only three minutes after takeoff, the rocket exploded in midair. “As if the flight tests weren’t exciting enough, the spacecraft underwent a quick and unplanned disassembly prior to stage separation.” explains SpaceX on Twitter.

Nevertheless, this is a semi-success for the space agency, which was able to collect a lot of data during the process. “Today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team for this first integrated Starship test flight.” concludes the business.

Elon Musk was aware of the low chances of success

As a reminder, the flight plan had to follow the following steps:

• After takeoff, Super Heavy will have to detach before falling back into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico
• The Starship spacecraft will then have to turn on its six engines to continue its ascent up to an altitude of 150 km.
• After rotating the Earth in about an hour, it will begin its descent towards the Pacific Ocean.

Only and as Elon Musk said, the success of the operation was most uncertain. “If we get far enough away from the launch pad before there’s a problem, I’ll consider it a success.” he wrote on Twitter. The billionaire feared in particular the explosion of one of the 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy stage, which would have caused a chain reaction… and the destruction of the launch pad.