The second-ever test flight of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket has spurred an investigation, just as the primary one did.
Starship lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas on Saturday (Nov. 18), kicking off a test mission that aimed to send the vehicle’s upper stage most of the way in which around Earth.
The goal was a splashdown within the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii about 90 minutes after launch. But Saturday’s flight ended just eight minutes in, with the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of Starship’s upper stage. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deemed this consequence a mishap and can supervise an investigation into its cause.
“The FAA will oversee the @SpaceX-led mishap investigation to make sure SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,” the agency wrote via X on Saturday. There have been no reports of injuries or damage to public property consequently of the flight, the FAA added in one other post.
The FAA also oversaw the investigation that followed Starship’s first test mission, which launched from Starbase on April 20. The vehicle suffered quite a lot of problems on that flight; several of its 33 first-stage Raptor engines conked out early, for instance, and its two stages — the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage — didn’t separate as planned. Because of this, SpaceX commanded a detonation of the tumbling vehicle, which occurred 4 minutes after liftoff.
That launch also damaged a few of Starbase’s infrastructure, blasting out a crater beneath the power’s orbital launch mount and sending chunks of concrete and other debris raining down on the encompassing area.
The FAA closed that mishap investigation on Sept. 8, but other regulatory boxes still needed to be checked before Starship could fly again. The agency finally granted a launch license on Nov. 15, after it had wrapped up a security review and an environmental assessment.
It’s hard to assume this second investigation, and the following licensing process, taking so long, because loads went right on Saturday.
For instance, all 33 of Super Heavy’s engines lit up upon ignition, and the booster separated successfully from the Starship upper stage as planned. Starship’s six Raptors burned for an prolonged period, taking the spacecraft to a maximum altitude of 91 miles (148 kilometers), based on telemetry that SpaceX provided during its launch webcast. In the course of the April 20 flight, Starship got just 24 miles (39 km) above the bottom.
Indeed, SpaceX hailed Saturday’s test flight as successful.
“Truthfully, it’s such an incredibly successful day, regardless that we did have a rapid unscheduled disassembly of each the Super Heavy booster and the Ship,” SpaceX quality engineering manager Kate Tice said in the course of the live webcast. (Super Heavy was speculated to splash down within the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after launch, nevertheless it exploded shortly after stage separation.)
“That is great,” Tice added. “We got a lot data, and that may all help us to enhance for our next flight.”
It’s unclear when that next flight will happen; that relies on the consequence of the investigation, and what number of adjustments SpaceX might have to make before the FAA clears Starship for liftoff once more.