SpaceX’s giant rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas
By Orange County on April 20, 2023
By MARCIA DUNN | AP Aerospace Writer
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas — SpaceX’s giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but exploded minutes after rising from the launch pad and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.
Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.
The plan called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn’t happen. The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf. After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.
Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: “Go, baby, go!”
SpaceX’s Starship launches from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
A tour boat passes SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, was it prepares to launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Jose Cabrera, a technician with SpaceX, waits as the SpaceX Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, prepares for launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Horseback riders pass SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Workers ready SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Visitors look on as SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, stands ready for a scheduled launch from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams, left, and Haley Esparza, right, ride horseback as they visit SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it is readied for launch at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, left, and Haley Esparza, right, ride horseback as they visit SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, as it is readied for launch at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Wednesday, April 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.
At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA’s moon rockets — past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.
The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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