Starship setback: SpaceX rocket explodes in seventh test flight

Key points:.Starship explodes mid-flight; booster recovery succeeds using robotic arms.Musk blames oxygen/fuel leak, next Starship launch set for next month.FAA investigates; debris impacts air traffic near launch site..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here..If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.By Loren Grush and Sana Pashankar___STEADY_PAYWALL___.SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded just minutes into its seventh test flight, an unexpected setback after the Elon Musk-led company had made steady progress advancing the vehicle's capabilities..While the top section of the rocket was lost, SpaceX succeeded in another complicated manoeuvre, bringing the spacecraft's Super Heavy lower portion back down to Earth and catching it in midair using giant mechanical arms..The largest and most powerful rocket ever built lifted off the launchpad at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas at 4:37 p.m. local time Thursday. It was supposed to attempt to reach near orbital speeds and deploy 10 dummy spacecraft, designed to mimic the size, shape and weight of the upgraded SpaceX Starlink satellites that Starship will be launching in the future. .It was to be the first time Starship attempted to deploy cargo in space, an important milestone in readying the rocket for operational use. .But a little under 8 1/2-minutes into the mission, SpaceX lost communications with Starship. Launch commentators then said the vehicle had been "lost." Musk later reposted a video on his social media site X of debris falling from the sky, saying "success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed." .In a later post, Musk said preliminary indicators pointed to an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity. ."Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month," he said..Thursday's mission marked the shortest Starship test flight since November 2023, when SpaceX lost the vehicle about eight minutes into its second-ever launch. The apparent explosion was an unexpected turn after SpaceX had repeatedly made progress with its Starship test flights, pushing the vehicle further with each new launch attempt..The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses launches and reentries of rockets, said it was aware "an anomaly" occurred during the Starship test flight. "The FAA is assessing the operation," it said in a statement. .Musk has previously criticised the FAA for proposing fines to penalise the company for alleged launch license violations and for what he claims are unacceptable delays in approving launches. .The FAA also said that it slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where the Starship debris fell. Commercial flights operated by JetBlue Airways Corp. and American Airlines Group Inc. were forced to take action to avoid the fallout. .About six minutes into the flight, SpaceX used giant mechanical arms to "catch" the rocket's Super Heavy booster — the same stunning engineering manoeuvre it completed during the rocket's fifth test flight in October..Recovering Super Heavy is critical to the developmental progress of the vehicle, which Musk has long touted will be fully reusable. .SpaceX successfully caught a Starship rocket booster at the Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach in Texas on Oct. 13..During the rocket's sixth test flight on Nov. 19, attended by President-elect Donald Trump, SpaceX skipped the booster catch, citing technical issues. .The loss of Starship came just hours after Blue Origin LLC's New Glenn rocket successfully reached orbit during its debut flight. The Jeff Bezos-backed firm is vying to challenge SpaceX's ironclad grip on the launch market. Musk was quick to offer his fellow billionaire congratulations on reaching a new milestone. .In the past, some of Starship's launches have ended with explosions and other damage to the vehicle — emblems of SpaceX's fly-fail-fix iterative approach to engineering. SpaceX said that for this launch, it upgraded the rocket's heat shield — designed to cushion the extreme heat and forces as it plunges through the atmosphere. .Other upgrades to the vehicle include a redesigned propulsion system, more powerful flight computer and additional cameras for flight monitoring, according to the company. .Read also:.🔒 Musk: More robotic androids than people by 2040Trump and Musk look on as SpaceX launches sixth major starship test🔒 Musk's TikTok takeover won't save it: Catherine Thorbecke.© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Starship setback: SpaceX rocket explodes in seventh test flight

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