03 Feb 2021, 01:05 PM IST
The Starship SN9 is a SpaceX prototype for what the company hopes will be the first spaceship to carry humans to Mars. Like most of SpaceX’s recent crafts, the Starship is also designed to be reusable.
Agencies
On Tuesday, the Elon Musk company launched the bullet-shaped ship from a launchpad in Texas, only for the rocket to reach the desired altitude, flip and then speed back downwards, crashing onto the pad where it began its journey, going up in flames. “We’ve just got to work on that landing a little bit,” said SpaceX launch commentator John Insprucker.
Reuters
America’s Federal Aviation Administration has asked SpaceX to pause tests while it looks into what went wrong on the test flight from Texas. The agency said in a statement that even though the flight was uncrewed it was important for the way ahead that they figure out what went wrong.
Agencies
The test on Tuesday was actually supposed to happen last Thursday, but the Starship had remained stranded there after SpaceX was prohibited from conducting the test then, because the company had violated a public safety agreement it had with the FAA.
Reuters
Musk is developing the Starship with an eye on Mars, and plans to launch it on the Super Heavy – one of SpaceX’s marquee projects for a mega rocket – that’s still under development. Meanwhile, Musk might have his hands full with the FAA.
AFP
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