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SpaceX's Starship Explodes On Landing After Test Flight

SpaceX's Starship Explodes On Landing After Test Flight

Despite the ship not successfully landing, Elon Musk is finding the positive side.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

SpaceX's Starship has had an explosive landing back to earth...and we mean that literally.

The shiny, bullet-shaped space ship was launched several kilometres into the sky in a test flight that would hopefully shed light on a new way to get into the cosmos and hopefully over to Mars.

Elon Musk is hoping the vessel will be able to take people to the Red Planet in as little as six years and today's test was the highest flight yet.

Everything appeared to be perfect: the sun was shining, the sky was blue, all the checks and tests had been completed before it was ready to go.

The launch went off without a hitch and the Starship blasted into the air with the goal of reaching an altitude of 12.5 kilometres, which is around 100 times higher than previous missions.

This Starship was the first to come fitted with a nose cone, body flaps and three engines.

SpaceX hasn't revealed how high the spaceship reached, however it's believed to have come close to its goal. As it reached its highest point over the Gulf of Mexico, it flipped on its side and cruised back down to earth.

Just as it got close to the ground, the engines fired up once again and the ship was upright. It tried to slow the vessel down, however when it touched back down it exploded in a massive fireball.

SpaceX

While it might not be the result many would have wanted, Elon Musk isn't fazed.

He wrote on Twitter: "Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!

"Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!

"Thank you, South Texas for your support! This is the gateway to Mars. Mars, here we come!!"

Featured Image Credit: SpaceX

Topics: News, SpaceX