According to SpaceX, the flight reached its highest point of 24.2 miles (39 kilometers) above the ground.
The company reported that the rocketship experienced multiple engine failures during the flight. It lost altitude. And began to tumble.
The flight termination system on both the booster and the ship was implemented to direct the explosion.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk congratulated team members on “an exciting test launch” in a post-launch tweet and said they “learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
The Future of SpaceX and the Starship
NASA has tapped SpaceX to provide a Starship lunar lander that would ferry astronauts from another spacecraft to the moon’s surface. And the Artemis III mission is scheduled as early as 2025.
In addition to the Artemis III mission, there are other ambitious projects on the manifest.
A Starship-propelled tourism trip around the moon is planned for Yusaku Maezawa. The mission, aka “Dear Moon,” plans to fly the Japanese billionaire and eight crewmates, including artists and creatives from around the world.
