Elon Musk's giant rocket Contact broken off shortly after eighth launch
Another setback for Elon Musk's "Starship": the largest rocket system ever built in space history has also failed to complete an eighth test flight as planned.
07.03.2025, 06:24
07.03.2025, 06:28
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- The giant Starship rocket from Elon Musk's US space company SpaceX has taken off on its eighth test flight.
- However, shortly after the launch, SpaceX says it lost contact with the rocket.
- This happened during the last attempt.
"During the ascent ignition of Starship, the vehicle suffered a rapid, unplanned disassembly and contact was lost," SpaceX announced. "We will analyze the data from today's flight to better understand the cause. As always, success in a test like this is in what we learn, and today's flight will help us improve Starship's reliability."
According to reports, falling rocket parts were spotted over the US state of Florida and the Caribbean after the dismantling. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted take-offs and landings at several airports in Florida. The previous test flight of the "Starship" had already ended similarly, with reports of falling rocket parts on the Caribbean island group of Turks and Caicos.
Catching the lower rocket stage with grappling arms was successful
Nevertheless, the lower rocket stage on the launch tower in the US state of Texas was successfully caught again with grappling arms during this test flight, now for the third time. Previously, the test flight had been postponed once and canceled once at short notice in the past few days.
The missile system was first tested in April 2023 - and exploded completely after just a few minutes. In further tests, however, the upper stage had already reached space and made a controlled landing in the Indian Ocean.
"Starship" is bigger than the Statue of Liberty
The "Starship" consists of two parts that separate after the launch: The approximately 70-meter-long "Super Heavy" booster and the upper stage, also called "Starship", which measures around 50 meters. Overall, the system is larger than the Statue of Liberty. Both parts, the booster and the spaceship, are designed so that they can be reused after returning to Earth. The US space agency NASA wants to use the "Starship" to send astronauts to the moon, while SpaceX is pursuing the goal of one day reaching Mars.