The launch of a rocket ends in a blast

SpaceX Launches on a Long, Fast, and Low-Energy, Test of the Multi-Planetary Spacecraft Starship

One day people may be transported to Mars by space transportation, but for now it was only a few minutes into its long-distance flight.

The Super Heavy rocket and the Starship stage were supposed to separate from each other four minutes after liftoff, but they did not.

The test flight was supposed to go close to the stars. The ship was supposed to fly to an altitude of 146 miles and make most of a lap around the Earth. The Super Heavy rocket was planned to splash down off the Texas coast soon after launch, and the Starship vehicle would have splashed down at the end of its trip 90 minutes later, off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.

But SpaceX hails the flight as a success, and an opportunity to improve Starship for future tests. “With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” SpaceX tweeted soon after the explosion.

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SpaceX revealed few details of the launch before this week, and the company did not respond to WIRED’s media requests. But there were some clues it was imminent: The FAA included the launch in their operations plan advisory, with backup dates through April 22. And officials in Cameron County, Texas, announced last week that Boca Chica Beach and the local road, State Highway 4, would be closed on April 17, with the following two days as possible backups.

The SpaceX rocket made it partially through its first full test. It could change astrophysics and astronomy, as well as ferry people to the Moon and Mars.

Still, the fact that it got off the launch pad, powered by up to 33 engines firing in synchrony, marks a substantial step beyond what SpaceX has been able to do so far with its most ambitious rocket. “Starship gave us a rather spectacular end to what was a truly incredible test,” Insprucker said later.

SpaceX has already developed smaller and partially reusable rockets, such as its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy series, that routinely launch satellites for governments, companies and other customers. It envisions using Starship to deploy even larger objects, such as the next generation of its Starlink communications satellites, which some astronomers have criticized for interfering with observations of the night sky.

The constraints on space flight have always been mass, volume, and cost, according to Heldmann. “And all of those constraints are basically lifted with Starship.”

NASA flew its space shuttles 135 times from 1981 to 2011 but was supposed to provide frequent access to space. The shuttle was retired by NASA so that they could develop the SLS to travel farther away from Earth.

Today’s flight showed that developing a new rocket is not easy. SpaceX has a number of other Starships built and will likely test another one in the near future. There’s a chance we could see a lot of progress this year. Or not.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and retired International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield both praised Thursday’s launch as a success. SpaceX agreed.

Brendan Byrne told Morning Edition that the company’s philosophy was to design based on failure. He added that SpaceX said before the mission that any data it yielded would be valuable as long as the rocket cleared the launch pad — which it did.

Carissa Bryce Christensen, the CEO and founder of analytics and engineering firm BryceTech, says SpaceX’s visibility and transparency in its test process is a good thing.

“This test is consistent with the planned test program,” the space industry analyst said. If everything works perfectly in the test, it’s great. That’s an unrealistic expectation with a vehicle.

The loss of that test article is consistent with SpaceX’s approach to developing the Starship system. You can use analysis and computer simulations to figure out what will work and what won’t in the real world, and you can also use physical tests in the real world. The program of development of the company has been very hardware intensive, and we have seen many physical tests.

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SpaceX talks about this rocket in the context of aspiring to change what humanity does in space. SpaceX has already dominated launches of existing space activities with its Falcon 9 reusable launch vehicle. Reusability there was a huge achievement, so you aren’t throwing the rocket away every time you use it. And so SpaceX’s Falcon 9 vehicle contributed to lower prices, a faster launch cadence and has helped attract investment in space ventures that use satellites and serve other existing space markets.

I think there is a next step in vehicle performance and function that we will see. But I certainly would not say that we won’t see a test article dramatically and excitingly “disassemble.”