The footage showed the moment Elon Musk’s SpaceX spacecraft exploded in space, less than 10 minutes into its planned 90-minute mission.
The spacecraft’s main module exploded shortly after launch at 1pm UK time on Saturday.
A clip from Starship’s second test flight showed the Super Heavy launch vehicle successfully separating from the main module, which would carry passengers in a real flight.
About 30 seconds later, a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly” or explosion of the booster occurred.
The main spacecraft continued traveling at a speed of 24,000 km/h (or 19,000 miles per hour) before losing contact with ground control and appearing to explode 90 miles above Earth’s surface.
Spacecraft launched loaded with 4,500 tons (10 million pounds) of rocket fuel
A snapshot showing the spacecraft and its launch vehicle launching from SpaceX’s Starbase in the Gulf of Mexico near Boca Chica
Shock waves were created when Starship broke the sound barrier on its second test flight
Starship’s goal was to fly 90 miles into the atmosphere before crashing into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii
The clip from the second test flight showed the Super Heavy launch vehicle successfully separating from the main module, which would carry passengers in a real flight
The launch vehicle then experienced what is known as a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly” – SpaceX’s term for an explosion
The spacecraft launched from SpaceX’s Starbase in the Gulf of Mexico near Boca Chica, Texas, loaded with 4,500 tons (10 million pounds) of rocket fuel.
Its goal was to fly 90 miles into the atmosphere before crashing into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii, the same goal as its maiden voyage in April, in which the plane exploded four minutes after takeoff.
Approximately two minutes and forty-five seconds into the test, the booster engines shut down before separating from the rest of the module.
The Super Heavy carrier then quickly fell to Earth before exploding upon reaching the atmosphere.
Had it not been disassembled, the launch vehicle would have landed about eight minutes after liftoff, SpaceX said.
Footage then showed the main module appearing to explode from the ground less than ten minutes after liftoff.
The spacecraft’s main module continued flying at 24,000 km/h (or 19,000 miles per hour) before losing contact with ground control
Footage then showed the main module appearing to explode from the ground less than ten minutes after liftoff
SpaceX still hailed the second test flight as “incredibly successful” and said it had collected data that would be used to improve the next flight
SpaceX CEO, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Elon Musk congratulated his team on X, formerly Twitter
Musk still celebrated the test flight as a success and congratulated his team on X an hour after the explosion.
SpaceX’s chairman, CEO and chief technical officer believes Starship will one day reach the moon and conduct return flights to Mars.
SpaceX’s Kate Tice testified on the live stream of the test
“We received so much data and it will all help us improve for our next flight.”
She added that everything after “clearing the tower” was “icing on the cake.”
However, experts assume that the rocket self-destructed as a precautionary measure due to a flight error.
Jonathan Amos, the BBC’s science correspondent, said there was “clearly something wrong” with the test and that the computer would destroy the rocket at the earliest opportunity, causing it to disintegrate over the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX engineer John Insprucker noted that the second stage’s automatic flight termination system was triggered very late in the burn.