SpaceX launches Starship rocket into orbit on test flight but loses spacecraft during return to Earth. SpaceX’s new super rocket blasted off Thursday morning, flying high into space on a big test flight to show off new technologies and methods important for future moon and space missions.
It was the third big test for this rocket, called Starship, and it happened on the 22nd birthday of SpaceX. People were really interested because Starship is supposed to be a key part of NASA’s plan to go back to the moon.
The rocket took off at 9:25 a.m. ET from SpaceX’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas. This time, SpaceX did something new: Starship went into orbit and then came back to Earth for the first time in over 40 minutes.
“This is the farthest and fastest Starship has ever flown,” said SpaceX.
But there’s a problem. It seems the spacecraft got lost on its way back to Earth, before it could land safely in the Indian Ocean like SpaceX wanted.
After the flight, the Federal Aviation Administration said they’re looking into what happened. They’re checking if SpaceX followed all the rules.
Nobody got hurt, and no property got damaged, the FAA said.
But SpaceX will have to wait for the FAA to finish its investigation and fix any problems before they can launch Starship again.
Even though things didn’t end well, SpaceX said it was still a great day.
The big booster part of the rocket, called Super Heavy, didn’t do its final burn like it was supposed to. Instead, it splashed down hard in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX had plans to show off other things during the flight, like opening and closing the cargo door and moving fuel between tanks in space. They’ll have to look at the data to see if those worked.
SpaceX also wanted to fire up one of Starship’s engines while it was in space, but they decided not to.
A lot of the stuff they tried on this flight will help with future missions, like launching satellites and going to the moon with NASA’s Artemis program.
SpaceX says they’re working towards making Starship fully reusable, but that wasn’t the goal for this test flight.
NASA picked Starship to take astronauts to the moon in a mission called Artemis III, which might happen in 2026.
Starship’s first flight last April ended in an explosion, and the second flight in November had some successes but lost contact with the rocket afterward.