SpaceX Starship Spacecraft

2023: Starship with Super Heavy first stage explodes in launch attempt

SpaceX's first-stage Super Heavy Starship spacecraft exploded while attempting to launch in April 2023

2022: Launch vehicle explosion immediately after takeoff

On July 11, 2022, a Super Heavy booster for the company-developed Starship Elona Musk SpaceX spacecraft exploded on the launch pad during a test launch. The tests took place American in the state. Texas

By July 12, 2022, it was not reported what caused the explosion, which turned the base of the rocket into a fireball with plumes of thick smoke. True, at the same time the accelerator remained standing, fixed on the test site. The incident occurred during a static fire test at a site in Texas. The booster, equipped with 33 Raptor engines, was supposed to be used in an unmanned test flight planned by SpaceX for the second half of 2022.

Another Elon Musk rocket exploded immediately after takeoff

{{quote 'Yes, not really good. The team assesses the damage... In the future, we will not conduct launch tests with all 33 engines at the same time! The company's specialists will understand the reasons for what happened and take measures so that this does not happen on the next rocket, the assembly of which is already underway, "said SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk ((Elon Musk). }} SpaceX, during a failed December 2020 test of a Starship rocket that ended in an explosion, violated the terms of a license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Starship was designed to fly to the moon and Mars. An SN8 rocket exploded on December 10, 2020 during a test in Texas, failing to land correctly. It is not known whether the FAA will study the accident on July 11, 2022, as SpaceX refused to adhere to the conditions for launching spacecraft.

In early 2022, Musk announced that the super-heavy launch vehicle would be ready for launch in the summer of 2021, but delays in the creation of the rocket and the passage of procedures for licensing by the Boca Chica cosmodrome regulator, from which Starship is launched, forced to postpone the launch date to July 2022.^[1]

2021

First successful landing

In early May 2021, the prototype Starship ship first successfully landed after testing in Texas.

During these tests, the device rose to a height of 10 km in a few minutes, then made a successful vertical landing on the launch site.

It was the fifth Starship flight test to explode on several previous test flights, either during or after landing.

Another spacecraft explosion

The prototype of the American Starship manned spacecraft for missions on Moon Mars and Texas on March 3, 2021, made its first successful landing at the test site in. However, within minutes of landing, it exploded. The probable cause is an excess of rocket fuel.

The ship was able to rise to an altitude of about 10 km. Then the device turned around and landed on the platform. A few minutes later, the ship caught fire.

The first attempt to conduct flight tests of the Starship SN10 (the tenth serial test vehicle) was interrupted 0.1 seconds before takeoff. According to Ars Technica, SpaceX stopped the launch after the on-board computer received data that the engine was developing too much thrust.

SpaceX spacecraft for missions to the moon and Mars exploded again

A few hours later, repeated tests began. The spacecraft flew to a height of 10 thousand meters, made a U-turn, made all the necessary maneuvers, successfully landed and exploded eight minutes later.

SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said that "there was a successful soft touch of the landing pad."

Starship SN10 landed unharmed!, - wrote Musk in his Twitter blog.

In response to one of the comments, he added that the SpaceX team has done a great job and is not going to stop. Elon Musk also expressed the hope that in the future Starship flights that have become familiar will be a real measure of success.

According to John Inspruker, by early March 2021, SpaceX has another prototype ship. It will be ready for another test flight "in the near future."

Elon Musk is confident that his rocket will be able to land people on Mars as early as 2026. In 2021, SpaceX expects to conduct a full-fledged orbital launch of Starship with an unmanned launch vehicle.^[2]

Ship explosion

In February 2021, the prototype of the American SpaceX Starship spacecraft, designed for future flights to Mars, exploded during landing during tests at a training ground in Texas.

In December 2020, similar tests of the previous SN8 prototype also ended in a landing explosion.

2020: Explosions of SN3 and SN4 ships

The tests of the third prototype of the Starship SN4 spacecraft  from SpaceX at the Boca Chica training ground in southern Texas, which took place on May 29, 2020, ended in failure. The explosion occurred during testing of the Raptor methane engine.

According to Spaceflight Now, the explosion occurred two minutes after the launch of the Raptor methane engine. As a result, the rocket was completely destroyed, and its wreckage scattered throughout the launch pad. Information about the victims of the incident by May 31, 2020 was not received.

Another Starship prototype exploded during fire tests

On April 3, 2020, the prototype burst during the pressurization of the prototype with liquid nitrogen, as a result, Starship SN3 ruptured. In late February , another SpaceX prototype burst under the same circumstances. In November 2019 , Starship Mk1 exploded during tests at the same test site.

With SN4, however, the situation was more successful: at the end of April 2020, the last prototype withstood pressure testing, and in early May it successfully passed the first fire tests with one Raptor engine. However, during the new tests, the rocket exploded: Space News reports that the explosion occurred after a successful burn and shutdown of the engines.

SpaceX, which was created by Elon Musk, is developing a transport system that consists of a reusable Starship and a Super Heavy launch vehicle. They are planned to allow delivery to Earth orbits, as well as to the moon and Mars, satellites, cargo and astronauts.

On May 29, 2020, the US authorities issued a license to conduct test suborbital flights of the Starship spacecraft. The license provides for the possibility of multiple flights. The main limitation is the impossibility of entering orbit.^[3]

The Starship ship with a length of 50 m and a diameter of 9 m is made of alloy steel, its declared carrying capacity is 150 tons. 

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