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sensational footage has capture the moment Thursday ’s failedSpaceXrocket launch dismount up the skies above the Turks and Caicos island . The telling display , which see dozens of burning chunks of the elephantine space vehicle smear a colorful streak of smoke over the Atlantic , was hitch on camera by a family vacation on Grand Turk island , Associated Press reports .
SpaceX launch Starship ’s seventh trial run escape from Starbase in Texas at 4:37 p.m. CT on Jan. 16 . However , after the rocket booster successfully separated , the fellowship drop off touch with the spacecraft and a fire prepare in the garden rocket ’s back plane section , stimulate it toexplode above the Atlantic Oceanaround 8 minutes after launching .
" Starship have a rapid unscheduled dismantling during its ascent burn , " SpaceXsaid in a poston the social program X at 5:24 p.m. CT Jan. 16 . " With a test like this , success comes from what we get word , and today ’s flight will serve us better Starship ’s reliability . "
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Elon Musk , the company ’s primary proprietor , reply to the footage on ten , saying " success is unsure , but entertainment is guaranteed ! "
Success is uncertain , but entertainment is guarantee ! ✨ pic.twitter.com/nn3PiP8XwGJanuary 16 , 2025
While the spacecraft was put down , the Super Heavy rocket booster successfully returned to the launching tower , where it was catch by the tower ’s giant robotic arms , Live Science ’s sister siteSpace.com report .
No spaceman were on board the spacecraft .
This is not the first fourth dimension that Starship has exploded during a exam flight . During the rocket ’s secondly - ever launch in November 2023 , the spacecraft explode around 4 second after launch andpunched a temporary fix in the upper aura , recognize as an " ionospheric hole . " However , it is presently too shortly to differentiate if the latest outbreak created a similar disturbance .
Preliminary indication is that we had an atomic number 8 / fuel outflow in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was big enough to build pressure level in surplus of the vent capacity . Apart from manifestly double - checking for news leak , we will add attack suppression to that volume and … January 17 , 2025
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The accurate ground for the sudden disassembly of the ballistic capsule is still unclear , although Musk said there appeared to have been an oxygen or fuel leak into the cavum above the ship engine ’s firewall .
The dust is thought to have landed around the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea , although at fourth dimension of drop a line the exact location is unclear . If someone bump a piece of debris from the spacecraft , the company urges them not to attempt to handle or retrieve it . " Instead , please contact your local authorities or the SpaceX Debris Hotline , " SpaceX said .
