Terrifying moment Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket spirals out of control and explodes in major malfunction
Topics: Space X, Elon Musk, Space, Technology, Texas
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Twitter/SpaceX
Topics: Space X, Elon Musk, Space, Technology, Texas
Elon Musk certainly won't be a happy man after a SpaceX Starship spiralled out of control and exploded in a major malfunction before it reached its intended destination of the Indian Ocean.
In Texas on Tuesday evening (May 27), SpaceX launched the unmanned rocket to much anticipation from space and science geeks alike.
The massive 400-foot rocket was launched into sub-orbit from its Starbase in Texas just after 6.30pm local time yesterday - but all went wrong around 30 minutes into the flight.
The whole point of the mission was for the ship to release eight mock Starlink satellites, but it was unable to do so as the rocket door failed to open.
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“We are in a little bit of a spin. We did spring a leak in some of the fuel tank systems inside of Starship,” SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said on the livestream.
Footage shows smoke bellowing from the ship, as the problem quickly becomes apparent.
The Super Heavy booster, which is reusable and had previously been launched three times, experienced a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' six minutes into the flight when it relit its engines to try and land.
The Starship, the part of the rocket that carries cargo, began spinning out of control due to the fuel tank leak, before the ground crew lost contact with it 46 minutes into its flight, with it likely disintegrating over the Indian Ocean.
The Federal Aviation Administration said there were 'no reports of public injury or damage to public property at this time'.
SpaceX founder Musk took to Twitter following the incident and penned: "Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent.
"Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review.
"Launch cadence for next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks."
SpaceX said in a statement: "Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Teams will continue to review data and work towards our next flight test."
While the accident is certainly an embarrassing moment for SpaceX, the company has continued to put a positive spin on things within its press releases.
"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary," the space company added on Twitter.
"Super Heavy demonstrated its ability to fly at a higher angle of attack during its descent back to Earth.
"By increasing the amount of atmospheric drag on the vehicle, a higher angle of attack results in a slower descent speed which in turn requires less propellant for the initial landing burn."