Starship's Hour-Long Third Flight Leaves SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, NASA Hopeful Despite Breakdown Over Indian Ocean
Mar 15, 2024
Elon Musk‘s SpaceX successfully launched its Starship for the third time on Thursday morning from Starbase in Texas. What Happened: Touted as the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, the 121-meter tall, approximately 5,000-tonne, two-stage vehicle lifted off after all 33 Raptor engines on its Super Heavy Booster ignited successfully. The booster subsequently separated from the spacecraft, which reached its intended orbit. However, neither the booster nor the spacecraft achieved their goal of a splashdown on Earth. The booster’s flight concluded in just under seven minutes before exploding over the Atlantic Ocean. The spacecraft lost contact and broke up while re-entering the planet’s atmosphere instead of splashing down as planned. The entire flight lasted about an hour. “Starship reached orbital velocity! Congratulations SpaceX team!!,” Musk wrote soon after the launch. Starship reached orbital velocity!Congratulations @SpaceX team!! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024 The ...Full story available on Benzinga.com
READ MORE