Elon Musk’s Starship rocket explodes during test launch

“Apart from the obvious need to re-test for leaks, we will add a fire suppression system to this area and probably increase the ventilation area. So far nothing indicates the need to postpone the next launch to a later date, it is still planned for next month,” said the billionaire.

The launch of the Starship spacecraft with the Super Heavy accelerator was carried out from a location in Texas at 1:37 Moscow time on January 17. The second stage of the rocket successfully returned to the site; It was caught by the mechanical “arms” of the launch tower.

Reuters, citing data from FlightRadar24, reported that dozens of commercial flights were diverted to other airports or changed course to avoid collisions with the Starship wreckage. Flights from Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports in Florida also suffered delays of about 45 minutes.

This was the seventh test flight of Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world. NASA has already reserved several Starship rockets to take astronauts to the Moon later this decade, and Musk plans to use them for missions to Mars.

On January 16, space company Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched its New Glenn rocket for the first time from the US Space Force base in Cape Canaveral, Florida. However, the first stage was never able to land on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.