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BREAKING NEWS: Watch- SpaceX Starship EXPLODES On Landing Attempt

By Tony Winterburn • Published: 02 Feb 2021 • 22:15

Watch- SpaceX Starship EXPLODES On Landing Attempt.

The latest prototype of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket launched successfully on Tuesday but exploded spectacularly on impact during an attempted landing after the company’s latest development test flight.

Starship prototype Serial Number 9, or SN9, aimed to fly as high as 10 kilometres, or about 32,800 feet altitude. The flight was similar to the one SpaceX conducted in December 2020, when it launched prototype SN8 on the highest and longest flight to date.

But, like the SN8 flight, while the rocket flew successfully it seems the prototype was unable to manoeuvre into the vertical position before landing on the launch pad, hindering its ability to stick the landing and exploded upon impact. Video credit Geoff Barrett.

Touchdown…#Starship #SN9 @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/mStYzVpZKs

— Geoff Barrett 🚀 (@GeoffdBarrett) February 2, 2021

“We had, again, another great flight up … we’ve just got to work on that landing a little bit,” SpaceX principal integration engineer John Insprucker said on the company’s webcast of the flight.

The rocket prototypes are built of stainless steel, representing the early versions of the rocket that CEO Elon Musk unveiled last year. The company is developing Starship with the goal of launching cargo and as many as a 100 people at a time on missions to the moon and Mars.

CEO Elon Musk pivoted the company’s attention to Starship in May, after SpaceX successfully launched its first astronaut mission. He’s deemed Starship the company’s top priority, declaring last year in an email obtained by CNBC that the development program must accelerate “dramatically and immediately.”

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