DStv Channel 403 Thursday, 20 February 2025

SpaceX catches Starship booster again, but upper stage explodes

WASHINGTON - Hours after Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin nailed its first-ever orbital mission, SpaceX seized back the spotlight as its latest test of Starship, its gargantuan next-generation megarocket, ended with the upper stage dramatically disintegrating over the Atlantic. 

In terms of sheer excitement, Elon Musk's company didn't disappoint, underscoring its technical prowess by catching the first stage booster in the "chopstick" arms of its launch tower for a second time. 

But the triumph was short-lived when teams lost contact with the upper stage vehicle. SpaceX later confirmed it had undergone "rapid unscheduled disassembly," the company's euphemism for an explosion.

A taller, improved version of the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built blasted off from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 4.37pm for its seventh test.

Around seven minutes after liftoff, the stainless steel Super Heavy booster decelerated from supersonic speeds -- generating sonic booms -- before descending gracefully into the launch tower's waiting arms, prompting an eruption of applause from ground control teams.

The maneuver was first successfully executed in October, but not November, when Super Heavy made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico instead.

Soon after the latest booster catch, however, announcers on a live webcast confirmed the upper stage vehicle had been lost following a propulsion anomaly.

The FlightAware tracker showed several planes in the Atlantic altering course near the Turks and Caicos Islands, while users on X shared dramatic footage purportedly capturing the spaceship breaking apart in a fiery cascade during atmospheric re-entry.

"Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" Musk posted on X, sharing one of the clips.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said the agency is "aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX Starship Flight 7 mission," adding it was "assessing the operation and will issue an updated statement."

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