The third launch of Starship was successful

Elon Musk’s SpaceX just launched its Starship rocket. After two previous unsuccessful attempts, high hopes are pinned on this rocket.

Mounted on top of a Super Heavy rocket, the steel Starship launched at 1525 GMT from SpaceX’s base in Boca Chica, Texas, and flew for 65 minutes before crashing into the Indian Ocean.

With a total height of 122 meters, the combination “starship” and the super-heavy rocket is the largest and most powerful ever created, and the ship itself is “the largest object ever to fly into space”according to SpaceX.

Starship re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Views through the plasma pic.twitter.com/HEQX4eEHWH

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Starship is also the vehicle that NASA will rely on to return American astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. But the ultimate goal of Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, is to use it to colonize Mars and save humanity if the Earth is in danger.

It took the spacecraft one minute to break the sound barrier. Three minutes after launch, he disconnected from the rocket and turned on his own engines.

In a livestream broadcast via Starlink, the company’s satellite Internet service, SpaceX employees could be heard celebrating. Unlike the previous two tests, which aimed to show that the spacecraft could separate from the rocket after launch, the third test flight involved opening the cargo port and firing one of Starship’s engines into space. Both goals were achieved, and approximately 45 minutes after launch, the spacecraft entered the atmosphere for reentry.

Last April, Space X, the largest space company owned by Elon Musk, test-launched its reusable rocket. Starshipwhich promises to revolutionize the space industry by being able to carry larger payloads than current rockets and travel greater distances.

With the help of these rockets, Elon Musk wants, in particular, to create human colonies on Mars. But the rocket exploded eight minutes after launch, and the company and Musk said they were pleased because they knew the chances of success were low and the potential failure would help identify and fix any problems or issues.

Both the rocket and the ship are designed to be reusable. However, they will not be restored during testing. The Super Heavy rocket fell minutes after launch into the Gulf of Mexico.

SpaceX previously admitted that there is a possibility that the spacecraft will explode this time, as happened during two previous tests. This wouldn’t be a failure, given that Musk’s company takes an unusual approach to testing its rockets to failure in order to gather data for improvements at a later stage.

But even if the tests are successful, Starship will need to undergo several more tests before it can be used to launch cargo and astronauts. And it complicates NASA’s plans as Starship has been chosen to land American astronauts for the first time in half a century.

Delays in Starship development raise doubts that the first landing will be possible in 2026, as planned. According to Reuters, US officials recently signaled they want to see more progress on Starship testing as the US and China race to reach the Moon.

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