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SpaceX ’s Starship rocket just hit orbit for the very first time , but now it ’s gotten lose upon reentry .
The giant rocket engine — the biggest and most hefty ever built — blasted off from its launchpad in Boca Chica , Texas , on Thursday ( March 14 ) at 9:25 a.m. EDT ( 1:25 p.m. GMT ) , entering the stratosphere just minutes later with a record - relegate 16.5 million pounds ( 7.5 million kilogram ) of poking . Standing 394 feet ( 120 meters ) marvelous , Starship can carry 10 clip the consignment of SpaceX ’s current Falcon 9 rockets .
Starship just after launching from its Boca Chica, Texas launchpad on March 14, 2024.
The launch is the rocket ’s third test flight , and its first one to reach orbit ; the previous two cease in dramatic explosions of the workmanship ’s 33 - engine Super Heavy booster rocket thatculminated in an environmental lawsuit . After conduct a number of maneuver during the spacecraft ’s hour - long flight in orbit , missionary post control reportedly mislay contact with Starship as it reentered Earth ’s ambience somewhere over the Indian Ocean .
Starship probably broke up or exploded over the sea , SpaceX confirm .
" The team has made the call that the ship has been lost , so no splashdown today , " Dan Huot , SpaceX ’s communication theory manager , said during the caller ’s livestream of the launching . " But again , just it ’s unbelievable to see how much further we got this time around . "
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" spaceship pass on orbital velocity!“Elon Musk , the billionaire founder of SpaceXwrote in a post on X , formerly send for Twitter , in brief after the successful launch . " Congratulations SpaceX squad ! ! "
Watch Starship ’s third flight test → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK https://t.co/1u46r769VpMarch 14 , 2024
Once the Eruca vesicaria sativa was in flight , missionary station engineers completed a number of tests , include re - get down its engines in quad and opening its payload threshold , before steering the craft back to splash down in the Indian Ocean . However , during reentry , the team drop off tangency withStarlink — SpaceX ’s satellite internet service of process — and the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System that it uses to keep an eye on its rocket .
SpaceX intends to use future adaptation of spaceship to transport crews , ballistic capsule , orbiter and cargo to various locations in thesolar arrangement — both for its own purposes and on behalf ofNASA . The U.S. blank space office is slated to practice Starship ’s Human Landing System to send humans to the moon ’s surface for the first time since 1972 , for the upcomingArtemis 3 and 4 missions .
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Starship is designed primarily with cheap and efficient manufacture in mind , using inexpensive unsullied brand for its construction and methane — which SpaceX say can be compile onMars — to power the rocket . It is project to be reusable and can deport a load of up to 275 ton ( 250 metric tons ) in its non - recyclable state , around 10 times that of SpaceX ’s current Falcon 9 rockets .
SpaceX does n’t come along to be too concerned about its mislaid rocket and often posit that failures during early test phases are normal .
" Each of these flight tests persist in to be just that : a test , " SpaceX said in a statement released before the launching . " They are n’t happen in a laboratory or on a test stand , but are put flying hardware in a trajectory environs to maximize learning . "
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