A test version of SpaceX's next-generation rocket Starship burst apart during ground tests in Texas, erupting plumes of gas and sending some pieces of hardware soaring into the sky. Live streams set up by local space enthusiasts were able to capture the mess.
The winged spacecraft stage, which was being tested without its conical nose section, remained upright on the test stand as vapor from a ruptured vessel towered out and down the vehicle's surfaces before it blew away. The ship's lower bulkhead seemed to have failed as well, but that was not immediately clear.
And the view from @SpacePadreIsle's stream:https://t.co/uAhbRh0fRx pic.twitter.com/SK2fqfWh6K — Chris B - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) November 20, 2019
During a September 28 event at the Boca Chica test facility, SpaceX founder Elon Musk showed off the Starship prototype - known as the Mark 1 - saying the firm expected to take it on a dry run in a few months.
"This thing is going to take off and fly to 65,000 feet, about 20 kilometers, and come back and land in about one to two months," Musk said of the Mark 1. "That giant thing [is] going to be pretty epic to see that thing take off and come back," he continued.
SpaceX, however, said before Wednesday's test not to fly the Mark 1 "test article." Instead, they intend to press ahead with another more advanced prototype designed to reach the solar system's orbit.
The futuristic-looking Starship is intended to bring passengers and cargo to Earth orbit, moon, and Mars. The rocket required a "Super Heavy" booster powered by methane-powered Raptor engines to reach outer space.
Musk said this super heavy Starship rocket - standing nearly 400 feet tall - would replace SpaceX's entire Falcon 9 line and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Crew Dragon spacecraft that SpaceX is building to carry spacemen to and from the International Space Station.
SpaceX is also creating Mark 2 at an industrial park near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, along with a launch stand at the NASA spaceport. A Mark 3 version will be built at Boca Chica - the site where Mark 1 is being created.
After the test mishap, Musk downplayed the incident, replying to a Twitter comment about what this means for the spacecraft's development.
Absolutely, but to move to Mk3 design. This had some value as a manufacturing pathfinder, but flight design is quite different. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2019
The incident is not the first time that SpaceX experienced failures in the launchpad. The company underwent a breakdown of its commercial Falcon 9 launch in 2016 and failed some of the tests for its crewed Dragon spacecraft earlier this year. However, the company manages to take such failures in stride, seeing them as part of the process to improve its products. They successfully landed the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket in 2016 after multiple failures.
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