SpaceX: Starship's uncontrolled reentry after contact lost
Texas: SpaceX's Starship rocket made an uncontrolled reentry after losing contact with mission control on Tuesday.
"Just to confirm, we did lose contact with the ship officially a couple of minutes ago. So that brings an end to the ninth flight test," said SpaceX's Dan Huot during a live feed.
The launch was the ninth uncrewed test flight for Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to use for interplanetary travel and to colonise Mars.
What do we know about the test?
The spacecraft, which is divided into two stages — the Starship vessel that is mounted on top of a SpaceX Super Heavy rocket booster — blasted off from SpaceX's Starbase launch site on the Gulf Coast in southern Texas at 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT).
The rocket later leaked fuel, spun out of control and reentered the Earth's atmosphere, and likely disintegrated over the Indian Ocean, officials said.
SpaceX, which is owned by billionaire Musk, confirmed that Starship had suffered from "a rapid unscheduled disassembly."
The likeliest cause of the loss of attitude control "appears to be a propellant leak or engine failure in the upper stage, leading to a spin during reentry," SpaceX explained.
The company added that data suggests "a leak disrupted control" which were similar issues encountered during the two previous tests, which also ended in failure.
"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," the company said.
The last two attempts ended in explosions.
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