WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket for the ninth time on May 27, marking a significant milestone in its development program with the first substantial reuse of a Super Heavy booster.
The flight, while falling short of all its objectives, demonstrated notable progress and yielded valuable data for future missions.
The massive two-stage rocket lifted off from the company's Starbase facility in Texas at 7:37 p.m. EDT. For the first time, SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster that had previously flown in January, with 29 of its 33 Raptor engines having already seen flight.
The booster executed experimental maneuvers during descent to collect data on atmospheric drag and fuel efficiency but disintegrated roughly six minutes after launch during its landing burn attempt in the Gulf of Mexico.
The upper stage, Starship, successfully reached space an improvement over its two previous flights, which ended prematurely. However, a leak in the vehicle's fuel tank system caused a loss of attitude control, forcing the company to abandon planned tests, including the deployment of dummy Starlink satellites and an in-orbit engine relight. The vehicle ultimately broke apart during re-entry over the Indian Ocean.
'This was a big improvement over the last flight,' CEO Elon Musk stated, citing valuable insights despite the vehicle's loss. Engineers also used the flight to evaluate new heat-shield materials, including actively cooled tiles, to better prepare for future reentries.
SpaceX plans to maintain an aggressive launch cadence, aiming for additional Starship test flights every few weeks. 'This is the SpaceX way we learn, we iterate, and we keep pushing forward,' said Jessie Anderson, a SpaceX engineering manager, reaffirming the company's mission to make Starship the backbone of future Moon, Mars, and Earth-orbit missions.
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