SpaceX catches Super Heavy booster on Starship Flight 7 test, loses upper stage

New Delhi: Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s Starship successfully aced the seventh test flight but lost the upper stage.

Starship and Super heavy booster lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas at 5:37 p.m. EST (4.07 am IST). All 33 Raptor engines powered the Super Heavy booster and Starship on a nominal ascent. Starship’s giant first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy was caught by the Starbase’s launch tower, using the structure’s “chopstick” arms, as it did for the first time on Starship Flight 5 in October.

While this was achieved about seven minutes after liftoff, SpaceX lost contact with Ship. “All six of Ship’s Raptor engines fired up during the stage’s ascent burn, but telemetry was lost with the vehicle after approximately eight and a half minutes of flight,” SpaceX said in a statement after the flight.

“Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” it added.

The ship was earlier stated to fly much of the way around the world, then splash down softly in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia about 66 minutes after liftoff. Meanwhile, the company launched an investigation, in coordination with the FAA, to understand the root cause.

“Starship is the first rocket design where success in making life multiplanetary is in the set of possible outcomes,” Musk said in a post on social media platform X.

He also stated that more than individual launches, building up civilisation on Mars is more important.

“Any individual launch is not very important. What matters is the expected date when Mars becomes a self-sustaining civilisation,” Musk said in a post.

Starship’s Flight 6 occurred in November last year. It could not repeat the success of Flight 5 to catch Super Heavy due to a communication issue with the launch tower.

SpaceX is developing the resusable Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built standing 123 meters tall, to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other feats.

The company informed that preparations are underway for the eighth flight test, and is going through prelaunch testing.

–IANS