The Starship spacecraft is on its way to space/Reuters
The third time it was successful, almost: SpaceX today (Thursday) successfully performed a third test flight of the giant Starship spacecraft.
The flight, which was unmanned, progressed significantly more smoothly than the two previous experiments, and brought SpaceX a big step forward towards the main goal: to bring humans to the moon in the future and later also to Mars, as part of the Artemis program.
For the first time, the Starship flight achieved two significant milestones compared to previous flights: the spacecraft successfully reached orbit at an altitude of about 230 km above the Earth's surface, and then re-entered the atmosphere after more than 40 minutes. "This is the farthest and fastest flight of the spacecraft Ever," SpaceX representatives said in the live broadcast of the event. However, data indicates that contact with the spacecraft was apparently lost during its return to Earth, while it was at an altitude of about 65 km.
The spacecraft successfully reached orbit at an altitude of about 230 km above the Earth's surface. The launch, Hayom/Reuters, Reuters
After the test flight ended, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it was investigating a "malfunction" that affected the spacecraft and the booster rocket, known as Super Heavy.
"No injuries or damage to public property were reported," the agency said in a statement.
"The FAA is overseeing the SpaceX-led crash investigation to ensure the company is operating in accordance with the FAA-approved crash investigation plan and other regulatory requirements."
As you may recall, the two previous Starship test flights ended with mixed results.
The maiden flight in April 2023 ended in abject failure when the rocket exploded about 4 minutes after launch.
The second flight, which took place in November 2023, was a partial success.
The spacecraft managed to reach space but soon after - also exploded after the launcher experienced a failed disassembly.
In April 2021, NASA chose SpaceX to develop a dedicated version of Starship for manned missions to the moon as part of the Artemis program. The Artemis program is a manned space program of the United States whose main goal is to land humans on the moon in 2025, for the first time since 1972 when they landed Astronauts on the moon in the Apollo program.
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