SpaceX’s unmanned Starship spacecraft, designed for transporting astronauts to the moon and past, confronted a setback on Saturday throughout its second check flight, following an preliminary try that led to an explosion. The two-stage rocket launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility close to Boca Chica in Texas, reaching an altitude of about 55 miles (90 km) on its deliberate 90-minute house journey. However, the Super Heavy first stage booster, whereas efficiently separating from its core stage, skilled an explosion over the Gulf of Mexico shortly after detachment.

Simultaneously, the first Starship booster continued its trajectory into house. However, roughly 10 minutes into the flight, a SpaceX mission management broadcaster reported an abrupt lack of contact with the car.

Speaking in regards to the explosion SpaceX wrote on its official deal with on X, “The booster experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly shortly after stage separation while Starship’s engines fired for several minutes on its way to space…”

READ | SpaceX Starship launched on test flight in Texas after last one blew up

“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…” it added.

During Saturday’s launch, a stay SpaceX webcast captured the rocketship ascending from the launch tower into the morning sky, powered by the vigorous Raptor engines of the Super Heavy booster.

The main purpose of the check flight was to efficiently elevate Starship off the bottom, propelling it into house slightly below Earth’s orbit. This milestone represented an important development in SpaceX’s pursuit of making a flexible spacecraft able to transporting each individuals and cargo. The long-term imaginative and prescient consists of utilizing this spacecraft to return to the moon within the coming decade for NASA and, finally, to embark on missions to Mars.

NASA, as SpaceX’s main buyer, holds a big curiosity within the success of Starship. The U.S. house company is counting on Starship to play a pivotal function in its human spaceflight program, Artemis, which follows the Apollo missions from over half a century in the past that achieved the historic feat of touchdown astronauts on the moon for the primary time.

(With inputs from Reuters)