Elon Musk’s SpaceX has suffered yet another catastrophic failure. This latest failure comes on the heels of the disastrous launches of its two previous flights.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday but spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important testing goals, bringing fresh engineering hurdles to CEO Musk’s increasingly turbulent Mars rocket program.
The company had only recently been cleared by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) for this launch. “With the Starship vehicle return to flight determination, Starship Flight 9 is authorized for launch,” the FAA recently said in a statement. “The FAA finds SpaceX meets all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements.”
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The 400-foot tall (122 meter) Starship rocket system, the core of Musk’s goal of sending humans to Mars, lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase, Texas launch site, flying beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year that sent debris streaking over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to divert course.
This is a major setback for the tech billionaire’s Mars mission. Musk’s Mars mission, led by SpaceX, aims to establish a human colony on Mars by 2050. The plan involves launching uncrewed Starship missions starting around 2026 to deliver equipment and prepare the planet for human arrival including sending Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, to assist with infrastructure. Crewed missions could begin as early as 2029 or 2031. Starship is designed to be fully reusable, reducing costs significantly. Despite recent test flight failures, SpaceX continues to improve the technology, working toward making space travel affordable and sustainable to transform humanity into a multiplanetary species.
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Though launch failures are expected in this field, Musk needs a win soon if he wants to continue at the helm of SpaceX, especially with his governmental endeavours not bearing the intended fruit. We will have to wait and see if Musk’s Mars mission is able to stay on course or not.