Starship’s eighth flight was a lot like its seventh.
SpaceX launched the eighth test flight of its Starship megarocket today (March 6), sending the 403-foot-tall (123 meters) vehicle aloft from its Starbase site in South Texas at 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT; 5:30 p.m. local Texas time).
Seven minutes later, Starship’s huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, returned to Starbase for a dramatic catch by the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms. It was the third time that SpaceX has demonstrated this jaw-dropping technique.
That didn’t happen, however. Several of Ship’s six Raptor engines conked out toward the end of its ascent burn, and the vehicle began to tumble. SpaceX lost contact with Ship about nine minutes into the flight, and it presumably detonated high in the sky shortly thereafter.
Today’s results mirrored those of Starship Flight 7, which launched on Jan. 16. SpaceX pulled off a Super Heavy chopsticks catch on that day as well, and it lost Ship at about the same point in the mission.
“Obviously a lot to go through, a lot to dig through, and we’re going to go right at it,” SpaceX’s Dan Huot said during live launch commentary today after Ship was lost. “We have some more to learn about this vehicle.”
Source:https://www.space.com/space-exploration/private-spaceflight/spacex-loses-starship-upper-stage-again-but-catches-giant-super-heavy-booster-during-flight-8-launch-video
