Today it was a very important day for the Starship, the rocket and spacecraft ensemble that SpaceX has been working on for more than a decade. After years of tests, some of which ended abruptly as a result of explosions, such as Starship SN8 in 2020 and Starship SN9 in 2021, the largest spacecraft of all time would attempt, for the first time, to get close to the Earth. planetary orbit.
I say good, get close, because the plan was for the spacecraft to complete a full circle around our planet, but not to remain in orbit, a test that is expected to take place later. However, none of this has been possible, because four minutes after its launch, which occurred at 3:33 p.m. (Spanish peninsular time), the Starship exploded when it was about 29 kilometers above the Gulf of Mexico. Said airspace was closed due to the possibility of this happening, so the explosion did not pose any additional risks.
Let us also remember that it was an unmanned test, so there are no personal losses to be regretted, which is undoubtedly the best news related to the incident. And it is that we must remember that this type of eventualities are common in the test phases of works as complex as the Starship. In other words, of course it is a pity that it has exploded, but this is normal and, therefore, except with regard to the conclusions drawn from the investigation into what happened, this should not affect the plans of both SpaceX and NASA with the Artemis Program.
congratulations @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Although the reaction of much of the SpaceX team in the seconds immediately after liftoff has been one of shared euphoria, the truth is that from the first moment there have been problems, since five of the 33 engines of the first stage of the rocket have not ignited, as it should have happened. The investigation will have to clarify whether this first incident had a more or less direct relationship with the subsequent explosion. In any case, the moment when it did become clear that there was a problem was around half a minute before the explosion, when the upper module has not detached from the lower one to maintain the ascent rate. This has caused the rocket to begin to descend from the 39 kilometers in height that it had managed to reach, to 29, in which the explosion occurred.
And what will happen from now on with Starship and Artemis? As indicated above, these types of incidents are not uncommon, so the parties involved take it for granted that it can happen. Thus, Elon Musk has published a message in which he congratulates himself on the learning obtained in this launch test, and confirms that a new release will be produced in a few months. The US space agency has reacted in a similar way, congratulating SpaceX for learning, and confirming that they continue to count on the Starship for their future plans.
