The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended flights of SpaceX’s Starship rocket prototype on Friday. The FAA ordered the company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, to it investigated a missile accident that occurred during a test flight before it was put back into service on Friday night. TASR took the information from the AFP and AP agencies.
The seventh test launch of the Starship spacecraft with the Super Heavy launch vehicle, intended for manned flights to the moon, on the night of Friday (CET) ended in failure. The rocket disintegrated shortly after takeoff over the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos, which are British overseas territories. The FAA said it was “working with SpaceX and the appropriate authorities to confirm reports of damage to public property on these islands.”
Musk stated that according to preliminary indications, the accident was caused by leaked fuelwhich increased the pressure in the cavity above the fire wall of the engine. The rocket was subsequently destroyed by a fire.
SpaceX uses the common name Starship for the Starship spacecraft and its Super Heavy carrier. It is fully reusable a transport system designed to transport crew and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the surface of the Moon, Mars and other more distant locations. According to the company, this is so far the most powerful system capable of carrying up to 150 tons of cargo into space.
All test flights so far have been unmanned. SpaceX’s ship has in the future carry up to 100 people or large amounts of cargo and equipment. The project is also important to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has chosen Starship to land its astronauts on the moon as part of the Artemis program. Man’s return to the moon is planned for 2026.
