SpaceX’s second attempt at a Space Launch System: First test flight for the 272 foot tall rocket, which was launched in April 2005
The previous attempt made it far along than this one. In April, the first test flight ended in failure. The rocket exploded after its launch and detonators to self-destruct. SpaceX blamed the failure on leaking propellant from the Super Heavy booster, stating it “severed connection with the vehicle’s primary flight computer.” The company couldn’t conduct another launch until it addressed the Federal Aviation Administration’s 63 corrective actions.
The craft was no longer in range of ground stations when it left, but it appears the flight suspension system engaged after it shut down.
Making it to space was part of the goal for this flight test, with SpaceX hoping for Starship to briefly orbit the Earth and splash down near Hawaii. Lisa Watson-Morgan, who heads up NASA’s Human Landing System program, told Ars Technica during an interview published yesterday that whether the launch succeeded in that goal or not, it would still “be a great learning event,” giving SpaceX and NASA more information to continue iterating on Starship’s systems for future tests.
This is the second attempt for the 372 foot tall rocket, which uses a two stage system that separates a few minutes into launch with the booster intended to set back down.
Although the Starship launch was originally scheduled to take place on November 17th, SpaceX pushed back the flight to replace a grid fin actuator, a component that helps guide the Super Heavy booster to its destination.
The launch took place in Texas at the Starbase facility. But this time, all of the 33 Raptor engines appeared to ignite properly, and the Starship’s stage separation from the Super Heavy booster worked as planned. The vehicle survived max q, or the point in its ascent when it’s under the most pressure from the atmosphere and its own velocity. About three minutes after launch, the Starship successfully separated from the Super Heavy booster, after which the booster exploded, something SpaceX officials typically refer to with the euphemism “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” or RUD.
“So far today has been incredibly successful, even with the RUD of the Super Heavy booster,” said Kate Tice, SpaceX’s quality systems engineer on the company’s webcast.
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If it had flown successfully, it would have made an altitude of 146 miles and was scheduled to land in Hawaii at about 9:00 Central time.
On November 10, the company posted on its website that the first test flight on April 20 provided numerous lessons learned. The April explosion destroyed the launch pad, causing what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described as a “rock tornado,” and rained debris onto the surrounding area. As a result, SpaceX and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a joint “mishap investigation.” NASA and the US National Transportation Safety Board were present as observers. The FAA concluded that there were 63 issues to deal with before the company could fly again, including redesign of the launch pad, redesign of vehicle hardware, and redesign of debris.