Tag: Boca Chica
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Musk says methane leak doomed latest Starship test flight
File photo of the Starship SN8 prototype, which flew last year, with three Raptor engines. Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Monday that a “relatively small” methane leak caused the explosion of the company’s latest Starship test rocket last week on an experimental flight over South Texas. The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) Starship test vehicle,…
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SpaceX’s latest high-altitude Starship test flight ends in another explosion
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 6:15 p.m. EDT (2215 GMT) with FAA statement and debris photos. The Raptor engines at the base of SpaceX’s Starship test rocket ignite for a landing burn at the end of Tuesday’s flight. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight apparently ended with another explosion Tuesday in South Texas, but dense fog…
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SpaceX’s next Starship test flight delayed to Tuesday
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Friday and Monday after delays. SpaceX’s Starship SN11 test rocket at Boca Chica, Texas. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its next Starship test rocket Friday afternoon, and the the next opportunity for the atmospheric test flight is now expected Tuesday. SpaceX plans to launch and land the rocket at company’s South…
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Starship SN11 prepares to fly as SpaceX pushes for Orbital flight this summer
Starship SN11 will re-attempt a Static Fire test Thursday – following a scrub on Monday – ahead of a potential flight as early as the weekend or the start of next week. Forever subject to change due to numerous considerations – ranging from weather, hardware parameters, and paperwork approval – SN11 will mark the final…
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Starship SN11 arrives at Pad B as SpaceX plans for the future
Just days after SN10 completed the first – albeit hard – Starship prototype landing, SN11 rolled out to the launch site for its own attempt. Incremental progress is being made with the test flights, with another tweak to the landing sequence set to be implemented, based on data gained from SN10. Meanwhile, the first Super…
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SpaceX nails Starship landing, but rocket explodes minutes later
The latest prototype of SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle — Starship SN10 — took off from the company’s South Texas test site and flew to an altitude of more than 30,000 feet Wednesday, then descended to a controlled vertical landing after two previous test vehicles crashed at touchdown. Minutes later, the 16-story test rocket exploded in…
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Starship SN10 successfully lands before RUD’ing on the pad
SpaceX’s Starship SN10 launched – and nailed the landing – Wednesday. However, likely due to the failure of some of the landing legs, the slightly tilted Starship caught fire on the landing pad and then blew up a few minutes later. With this advancement in the test program, future vehicles are seeing their Raptor engines…
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SpaceX Starship prototype lost in test flight landing mishap
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION A prototype SpaceX Starship vehicle exploded on touchdown after a successful climb and descent. Image: SpaceX. SpaceX launched a prototype Starship rocket Tuesday from its Boca Chica, Texas, flight facility, successfully sending the silver booster up to an altitude of about six miles as planned. But the unpiloted…
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Starship SN9 loses a Raptor during flip. RUD comes as future Starships line up
Starship SN9 is no more, following her successful flight and return, prior to losing a Raptor during the flip maneuver, resulting in a crash landing. As with SN8, SN9 got over the pad area and did not impact SN10 or any of the Ground Support Equipment at the Tank Farm. SN10 is expected to fly…
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FAA approves Starship test after saying SpaceX violated safety rules on last flight
Update: Starship completed a successful climb to approximately 10 kilometers altitude and descended horizontally toward the landing site. It appeared to lose control as it was in the process of flipping back to a vertical position and exploded as it bellyflopped onto the landing pad. We’ll have a full report later. SpaceX defied public safety…