The mission was the most complex test flight of the system so far.
The seventh test launch of the Starship spacecraft with the Super Heavy launch vehicle, intended for manned flights to the Moon, ended in failure on Friday night (CET). According to CNN and the AP agency, the American private company SpaceX informed about it.
The launch took place from the launch pad of the SpaceX space base in Boca Chica, southeast Texas on Thursday at 17:00 local time, writes TASR.
Media reports show that shortly after launch – late Thursday evening (CET) – the SpaceX company lost contact with the spacecraft, which had on board ten mock-ups simulating Starlink satellites and which were supposed to be used to practice launching them
However, the Super Heavy launch vehicle returned to the launch pad at the Boca Chica site after launch. This phase of today’s test is therefore considered a success.
According to the AP agency, today’s mission was the most complex test flight of the system so far.
SpaceX uses the common name Starship launch system for the Starship spacecraft and its Super Heavy carrier. It is a fully reusable transport system designed to transport crew and cargo to the orbit of the Earth, the Moon, Mars and other more distant locations. According to the company, it is the most powerful system to date capable of carrying up to 150 tons of cargo into space.
Thus, the only fully successful test of the Starship system took place in October, when the Super Heavy launch vehicle returned to the launch pad via mechanical arm capture, and the spacecraft made its scheduled flight.
During the sixth test flight – in November 2024 – although the ship performed the required flight, but the launch vehicle crashed into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
All test flights so far have been unmanned. In the future, SpaceX’s ship is expected to carry up to 100 people or a large amount of cargo and equipment.
The SpaceX project is also important to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which chose Starship to land its astronauts on the moon as part of the Artemis program. Man’s return to the moon is planned for 2026.
