Paris:

Europe’s weather satellite operator has cancelled plans to use the European rocket Ariane 6 less than two weeks before its first-ever launch, opting to go with US firm SpaceX instead, the French newspaper Le Monde has reported.

The latest blow to European space efforts comes after four years of delays to the Ariane 6, which is scheduled to finally blast off for the first time on July 9.

Contacted by AFP on Friday, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) could not immediately be reached, while the French company Arianespace, which developed and operates the Ariane 6 rocket, did not comment.

According to the Le Monde report, EUMETSAT’s executive committee asked the board of directors representing the organisation’s 30 member states to launch the MTG-S1 weather satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

That would mean cancelling the contract EUMETSAT signed with Arianespace four years ago.

The MTG-S1 satellite had been planned to be the third launch on an Ariane 6 rocket, scheduled to blast off sometime early next year.

The Le Monde report did not specify exactly why EUMETSAT ditched the European rocket for US billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The CEO of France’s CNES space agency Philippe Baptiste said it was “quite a brutal change as the flight was supposed to take place very soon.”

“Clearly, today is a very disappointing day for European space efforts,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“I am impatiently waiting to understand what reasons could have led EUMETSAT to such a decision, at a time where all major European space countries as well as the European Commission are calling for launching European satellites on European launchers!

“How far will we, Europeans, go in our naivety?”

Baptiste called on the European Commission to “take the necessary measures so that all European institutional satellites are launched on small and large European launchers.”

Ariane 6’s long-awaited inaugural flight comes at a difficult time for European space efforts.

The years of Ariane 6 delays, setbacks for the lighter Vega-C launcher and Russia’s withdrawal of its Soyuz rockets has left Europe without an independent way to blast its missions into space.

Before the latest setback, Ariane 6 rockets had an order book of 30 missions, and planned to launch nine times a year.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket — which is reusable, unlike Ariane 6 — is planning 144 launches this year alone.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

SpaceX on Wednesday launched an inaugural batch of operational spy satellites it built as part of a new U.S. intelligence network designed to significantly upgrade the country’s space-based surveillance powers, the first deployment of several more planned this year.

The spy network was revealed in a pair of Reuters reports earlier this year showing SpaceX is building hundreds of satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence agency, for a vast system in orbit capable of rapidly spotting ground targets almost anywhere in the world.

Northrop Grumman, a longtime space and defense contractor, is also involved in the project.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California at 4 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, carrying into space what the NRO said was the “first launch of the NRO’s proliferated systems featuring responsive collection and rapid data delivery.”

“Approximately half a dozen launches supporting NRO’s proliferated architecture are planned for 2024, with additional launches expected through 2028,” the agency said, without naming the number of satellites deployed.

Militaries and intelligence agencies around the world have increasingly relied on satellites in Earth’s orbit to aid operations on Earth, a trend accelerated in part by reduced costs of putting things in space and evolving threats to traditional collection methods on land or in the air.

The satellite network for the NRO also shows the extent to which the U.S. government has come to rely on Elon Musk’s SpaceX for some of its most sensitive missions. The company has dominated the U.S. rocket launch market and has become the world’s largest satellite operator with its Starlink network, a commercial system of thousands of broadband internet satellites.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

SpaceX logo and Elon Musk photo are seen in this illustration taken, December 19, 2022.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Injury rates at SpaceX facilities continued to exceed an industry average in 2023, according to a Reuters review of safety data reported to U.S. regulators by the space venture controlled by billionaire Elon Musk.

The 2023 records, newly disclosed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, also show that injury rates at some SpaceX facilities grew worse than those the company had reported in 2022. At its manufacturing-and-launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, for instance, SpaceX reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers, surpassing its rate of 4.8 injuries in 2022 and topping a space industry average of 0.8.

The company’s high injury rate last year was the subject of a Reuters investigation that found at least 600 previously unreported worker injuries at the rocket and satellite company. Those injuries, Reuters found, led to crushed limbs, amputations, serious head injuries and one death.

SpaceX didn’t respond to requests from Reuters seeking comment on the latest figures.

Safety experts say the high injury rates should be of concern for SpaceX clients, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. The federal space program has increasingly relied on SpaceX in recent years and as of 2022 had paid the company at least $11.8 billion for various contracts.

“NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work,” said David Michaels, a former OSHA administrator who is now a professor at The George Washington University. High injury rates, he added, can be “an indicator of poor production quality.”

A NASA spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.

OSHA didn’t respond to questions about SpaceX’s injury rate.

Reuters calculated the latest injury rates using data published by OSHA, opens new tab last week. The data for 2023 is the most complete yet provided by SpaceX, which reported injuries from eight major facilities, three more than it had in 2022. In years prior, SpaceX hadn’t reported any data for most of its sites, which include manufacturing, launch and other facilities.

At a unit that retrieves rocket boosters in the Pacific Ocean, SpaceX last year reported 7.6 injuries per 100 workers, more than nine times the industry rate.

Neither the company nor Musk, its billionaire founder and chief executive, have publicly addressed SpaceX’s safety record in detail.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief operating officer, in March reposted a video on social media of emergency chutes being tested at a company site in Florida. Commenting on the video on X, the social media company that’s also controlled by Musk, she wrote that “astronaut and personnel safety is SpaceX’s highest priority.”

SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.

The network is being built by SpaceX’s Starshield business unit under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, the sources said.

The plans show the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in U.S. intelligence and military projects and illustrate a deeper Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.

Also Read |Starlink: Why the new sovereign of low-earth orbit is bad news

If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the U.S. government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.

The contract signals growing trust by the intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in February the existence of a $1.8 billion classified Starshield contract with an unknown intelligence agency without detailing the purposes of the program.

Reuters reporting discloses for the first time that the SpaceX contract is for a powerful new spy system with hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits, and that the spy agency that Mr. Musk’s company is working with is the NRO.

Reuters was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online and could not establish what other companies are part of the program with their contracts.

SpaceX, the world’s largest satellite operator, did not respond to several requests for comment about the contract, its role in it and details on satellite launches. The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the NRO and SpaceX.

In a statement the NRO acknowledged its mission to develop a sophisticated satellite system and its partnerships with other government agencies, companies, research institutions and nations, but declined to comment on Reuters’ findings about the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in the effort.

“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” a spokesperson said.

The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with U.S. intelligence and military officials, the sources said. In principle, that would enable the U.S. government to quickly capture continuous imagery of activities on the ground nearly anywhere on the globe, aiding intelligence and military operations, they added.

Roughly a dozen prototypes have been launched since 2020, among other satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, three of the sources said.

A U.S. government database of objects in orbit shows several SpaceX missions having deployed satellites that neither the company nor the government have ever acknowledged. Two sources confirmed those to be prototypes for the Starshield network.

All the sources asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss the U.S. government program.

The Pentagon is already a big SpaceX customer, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads into space. Starshield’s first prototype satellite, launched in 2020, was part of a separate, roughly $200 million contract that helped position SpaceX for the subsequent $1.8 billion award, one of the sources said.

The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide near-global internet to consumers, companies and government agencies.

The classified constellation of spy satellites represents one of the U.S. government’s most sought-after capabilities in space because it is designed to offer the most persistent, pervasive and rapid coverage of activities on Earth.

“No one can hide,” one of the sources said of the system’s potential capability, when describing the network’s reach.

Mr. Musk, also the founder and CEO of Tesla and owner of social media company X, has driven innovation in space but has caused frustration among some officials in the Biden administration because of his past control of Starlink in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s military uses it for secure communications in the conflict with Russia. That authority over Starlink in a war zone by Mr. Musk, and not the U.S. military, created tension between him and the U.S. government.

A series of Reuters’ stories has detailed how Mr. Musk’s manufacturing operations, including at SpaceX, have harmed consumers and workers.

The Starshield network is part of intensifying competition between the U.S. and its rivals to become the dominant military power in space, in part by expanding spy satellite systems away from bulky, expensive spacecraft at higher orbits. Instead a vast, low-orbiting network can provide quicker and near-constant imaging of the Earth.

China also plans to start building its own satellite constellations, and the Pentagon has warned of space weapon threats from Russia, which could be capable of disabling entire satellite networks.

Starshield aims to be more resilient to attacks from sophisticated space powers.

The network is also intended to greatly expand the U.S. government’s remote-sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with imaging sensors, as well as a greater number of relay satellites that pass the imaging data and other communications across the network using inter-satellite lasers, two of the sources said.

The NRO includes personnel from the U.S. Space Force and CIA and provides classified satellite imagery for the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies.

The spy satellites will house sensors provided by another company, three of the sources said.

SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a US intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s space company and national security agencies.

The network is being built by SpaceX’s Starshield business unit under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), an intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, the sources said.

The plans show the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in US intelligence and military projects and illustrate a deeper Pentagon investment into vast, low-Earth orbiting satellite systems aimed at supporting ground forces.

If successful, the sources said the program would significantly advance the ability of the US government and military to quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe.

The contract signals growing trust by the intelligence establishment of a company whose owner has clashed with the Biden administration and sparked controversy over the use of Starlink satellite connectivity in the Ukraine war, the sources said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in February the existence of a $1.8 billion classified Starshield contract with an unknown intelligence agency without detailing the purposes of the program.

Reuters reporting discloses for the first time that the SpaceX contract is for a powerful new spy system with hundreds of satellites bearing Earth-imaging capabilities that can operate as a swarm in low orbits, and that the spy agency that Musk’s company is working with is the NRO.

Reuters was unable to determine when the new network of satellites would come online and could not establish what other companies are part of the program with their own contracts.

SpaceX, the world’s largest satellite operator, did not respond to several requests for comment about the contract, its role in it and details on satellite launches. The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the NRO and SpaceX.

In a statement the NRO acknowledged its mission to develop a sophisticated satellite system and its partnerships with other government agencies, companies, research institutions and nations, but declined to comment on Reuters’ findings about the extent of SpaceX’s involvement in the effort.

“The National Reconnaissance Office is developing the most capable, diverse, and resilient space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance system the world has ever seen,” a spokesperson said.

The satellites can track targets on the ground and share that data with US intelligence and military officials, the sources said. In principle, that would enable the US government to quickly capture continuous imagery of activities on the ground nearly anywhere on the globe, aiding intelligence and military operations, they added.

Roughly a dozen prototypes have been launched since 2020, among other satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, three of the sources said.

A US government database of objects in orbit shows several SpaceX missions having deployed satellites that neither the company nor the government have ever acknowledged. Two sources confirmed those to be prototypes for the Starshield network.

All the sources asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss the US government program.

The Pentagon is already a big SpaceX customer, using its Falcon 9 rockets to launch military payloads into space. Starshield’s first prototype satellite, launched in 2020, was part of a separate, roughly $200 million contract that helped position SpaceX for the subsequent $1.8 billion award, one of the sources said.

The planned Starshield network is separate from Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 satellites in space to provide near-global internet to consumers, companies and government agencies.

The classified constellation of spy satellites represents one of the US government’s most sought-after capabilities in space because it is designed to offer the most persistent, pervasive and rapid coverage of activities on Earth.

    “No one can hide,” one of the sources said of the system’s potential capability, when describing the network’s reach.

Musk, also the founder and CEO of Tesla and owner of social media company X, has driven innovation in space but has caused frustration among some officials in the Biden administration because of his past control of Starlink in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s military uses it for secure communications in the conflict with Russia. That authority over Starlink in a war zone by Musk, and not the US military, created tension between him and the US government.

A series of Reuters’ stories has detailed how Musk’s manufacturing operations, including at SpaceX, have harmed consumers and workers.

The Starshield network is part of intensifying competition between the US and its rivals to become the dominant military power in space, in part by expanding spy satellite systems away from bulky, expensive spacecraft at higher orbits. Instead a vast, low-orbiting network can provide quicker and near-constant imaging of the Earth.

China also plans to start building its own satellite constellations, and the Pentagon has warned of space weapon threats from Russia, which could be capable of disabling entire satellite networks.

Starshield aims to be more resilient to attacks from sophisticated space powers.

The network is also intended to greatly expand the US government’s remote-sensing capabilities and will consist of large satellites with imaging sensors, as well as a greater number of relay satellites that pass the imaging data and other communications across the network using inter-satellite lasers, two of the sources said.

The NRO includes personnel from the US Space Force and CIA and provides classified satellite imagery for the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies.

The spy satellites will house sensors provided by another company, three of the sources said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Elon Musk and SpaceX have shared stunning pictures of the Earth captured by Space X’s Starship as it completed its first successful flight through space on Thursday, in what was its third attempt. The Starship, which is the world’s most powerful rocket, reached its farthest and fastest flight during this test launch, although it was lost upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, according to SpaceX.

High-definition footage from an onboard camera showed the Starship in space, showing the curve of the Earth in the background as it soared at speeds exceeding 26,000 km per hour.  

“Wild that this is a real picture,” tweeted SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, sharing an image of the rocket in space. SpaceX also shared several images on their official X page, captioning them, “ship in space.”

Wild that this is a real picture pic.twitter.com/V2LWqTOydY

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 16, 2024

Ship in space pic.twitter.com/ge5vJ0q9jW

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 16, 2024

Following the mission, NASA administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on their “successful test flight”. “Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight! Starship has soared into the heavens. Together, we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the Moon—then look onward to Mars,” he wrote on X.

Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight! Starship has soared into the heavens. Together, we are making great strides through Artemis to return humanity to the Moon—then look onward to Mars. https://t.co/VXq8Vp1sAc

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) March 14, 2024

The take-off took place from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:25 am local time (6:55 pm IST), and was streamed live on X to millions of viewers. 

The Starship, standing at 397 feet tall (90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty), is designed to be fully reusable, boasting a super heavy booster that produces remarkable thrust. During its third launch test, the Starship met several objectives, including testing its payload delivery capabilities and atmospheric re-entry. 

After the launch, the Starship zoomed through space at a speed of 26,000 km per hour, reaching an altitude of over 200 km above sea level. It made its journey halfway around the Earth before beginning its descent over the Indian Ocean. 

However, 49 minutes into the flight, ground control lost all signals of the spacecraft, leading to the declaration that the vessel was “lost,” likely destroyed before it could have a planned hard splashdown. The lower-stage booster also failed to achieve a successful water landing.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk remains optimistic about the Starship’s potential. “Starship will make life multiplanetary,” he wrote on X. 

Starship will make life multiplanetary pic.twitter.com/Ul7ksiAHBZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024

SpaceX’s first integrated test ended abruptly in April 2023, when the Starship failed to separate its stages, resulting in the rocket being destroyed over the Gulf of Mexico. A second test in November of the same year showed slight improvement but ended in an explosion over the ocean. 

Each Starship costs SpaceX around $90 million to build. Despite setbacks, SpaceX’s testing approach in the real world has been successful in the past with Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules. With NASA planning a Moon mission in 2026 and China aiming for 2030, SpaceX must demonstrate Starship’s capabilities, including safe flight and refuelling in orbit, to stay competitive.

New Delhi:

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a stunning video captured by Starship of its reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere as it finished its first successful flight through space on Thursday – its third attempt.

The footage shared by Musk on X showed the “super hot plasma field grow” – a red hot flame enveloping the spacecraft – as Starship prepared to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere a little over 46 minutes into its flight.

Temperatures hit north of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit as the craft made its re-entry.

Elon Musk captioned the video: “Watch the super hot plasma field grow as Starship re-enters the atmosphere!”

Watch the super hot plasma field grow as Starship re-enters the atmosphere! pic.twitter.com/to4UOF2Kpd

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024

As the craft nears the Earth, loud cheers at the SpaceX headquarters almost overpowered the commentary.

But it all went south after this as radio communication with the Starship went blank. The spacecraft is lost, SpaceX announced later.

This is the first-of-its-kind re-entry footage as the previous ones were captured by the crew from inside the cabin.

It is extremely difficult to relay data home through such heated plasma fields. But Starship managed using SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, SpaceX said.

“Reliable high-speed, low-latency internet around the world – even while traveling at 27,000 km/h through a plasma field,” Starlink wrote on X, sharing the video of Starship’s reentry.

The craft managed to send imagery till a little over 48 minutes after launch. It descended to an altitude of 77 km – the last footage showed.

Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than it ever did after taking off on Thursday – its third test flight. But it was eventually lost as it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said.

SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket lifts off on its third launch from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. March 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

SpaceX’s Starship rocket, designed to eventually send astronauts to the moon and beyond, completed nearly an entire test flight through space on its third try on Thursday, getting farther than ever before, but disintegrated on its return to Earth.

During a webcast of the flight, SpaceX commentators said mission control lost communication with Starship from two satellite systems simultaneously while the spacecraft was re-entering the planet’s atmosphere at hypersonic speed.

The spacecraft at that point was nearing a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean, about an hour after launch from south Texas.

Contact with Starship cut out moments after a live video feed from a camera mounted on the vehicle showed high-definition images of a reddish glow enveloping the silvery spacecraft from the heat of re-entry friction as it plunged earthward.

A few minutes later, SpaceX confirmed that the spacecraft had been “lost” – meaning incinerated or broken apart – during the stress of re-entry.

For reasons that were left unclear, SpaceX opted to skip one of the test flight’s core objectives – an attempt to re-ignite one of Starship’s Raptor engines while it coasted in a shallow orbit. That milestone is considered key to its future success.

Still, completion of many of Starship’s intended flight objectives represented progress in the development of a spacecraft crucial to the growing satellite launch business of SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, and NASA’s moon program.

NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on what he called “a successful test flight” in a statement posted on social media platform X. The U.S. space agency is SpaceX’s biggest customer.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell wrote in an X post that the test marked an “incredible day.”

The two-stage spacecraft, consisting of the Starship cruise vessel mounted atop its towering Super Heavy rocket booster, blasted off from the company’s Starbase launch site near Boca Chica Village on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The upper-stage Starship reached peak altitudes of 145 miles (234 km).

The spacecraft far exceeded its two past performances, both of which were cut short by explosions minutes after launch. The company had acknowledged in advance a high probability that its latest flight might similarly end with the spacecraft’s demise before the mission profile was finished.

Engineering goals

Thursday’s flight achieved many of the engineering goals set for the mission: a repeat of successful stage separation during initial ascent; the first test of Starship’s ability to open and close its payload door in orbit; and the transfer of super-cooled rocket propellant from one tank to another during spaceflight.

What SpaceX failed to demonstrate on top of Starship’s re-entry failure and the skipped engine re-ignition test was an attempt to fly the Super Heavy rocket back to Earth, part of SpaceX’s routine strategy of recovering its launch boosters for re-use.

SpaceX officials have said they plan to conduct at least six more test flights of Starship this year, subject to regulatory approval.

The company is required to investigate each test mission failure and deliver its findings and corrective actions to the Federal Aviation Administration for the agency’s approval before the vehicle can fly again.

On the whole, Thursday’s test encompassed a fraction of the remaining demonstrations and missions the vehicle must get through before it is proven safe enough to fly people to space.

Still, Musk is counting on Starship to fulfill his goal of producing a large, multipurpose next-generation spacecraft capable of sending people and cargo to the moon later this decade, and ultimately flying to Mars.

Closer to home, Musk also sees Starship as eventually replacing the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as the workhorse in the company’s commercial launch business. It already lofts most of the world’s satellites and other payloads to low-Earth orbit.

NASA also has a lot riding on the success of Starship, which the agency is giving a central role in its Artemis program, successor to the Apollo missions that put astronauts on the moon for the first time more than 50 years ago.

While NASA executives have embraced Musk’s frequent flight-testing approach, agency officials in recent months have made clear their desire to see greater progress with Starship’s development as the United States races with China to the lunar surface.

SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship launches at dawn in the haze on it’s third test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, March 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

SpaceX came close to completing an hour-long test flight of its mega rocket on its third try Thursday, but the spacecraft was lost as it descended back to Earth.

The company said it lost contact with Starship as it neared its goal, a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The first-stage booster also ended up in pieces, breaking apart much earlier in the flight over the Gulf of Mexico after launching from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border.

“The ship has been lost. So no splashdown today,” said SpaceX’s Dan Huot. “But again, it’s incredible to see how much further we got this time around.”

Two test flights last year both ended in explosions minutes after liftoff. By surviving for close to 50 minutes this time, Thursday’s effort was considered a win by not only SpaceX’s Elon Musk, but NASA as well as Starship soared higher and farther than ever before. The space agency is counting on Starship to land its astronauts on the moon in another few years.

The nearly 121-meter Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, headed out over the Gulf of Mexico after liftoff Thursday morning, flying east. Spectators crowded the nearby beaches in South Padre Island and Mexico.

A few minutes later, the booster separated seamlessly from the spaceship, but broke apart 1,500 feet (462 meters) above the gulf, instead of plummeting into the water intact. By then, the spacecraft was well to the east and continuing upward, with no people or satellites on board.

Starship reached an altitude of about 233 km as it coasted across the Atlantic and South Africa, before approaching the Indian Ocean. But 49 minutes into the flight — with just 15 minutes remaining — all contact was lost and the spacecraft presumably broke apart.

At that point, it was 65 km high and traveling around 16,000 mph (25,700 kph).

SpaceX’s Elon Musk had just congratulated his team a little earlier. “SpaceX has come a long way,” he said via X, formerly called Twitter. The rocket company was founded exactly 22 years ago Thursday.

NASA greets SpaceX

NASA watched with keen interest: The space agency needs Starship to succeed in order to land astronauts on the moon in the next two or so years. This new crop of moonwalkers — the first since last century’s Apollo program — will descend to the lunar surface in a Starship after transferring from NASA’s Orion capsule in lunar orbit.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson quickly congratulated SpaceX on what he called a successful test flight as part of the space agency’s Artemis moon-landing program.

The stainless steel, bullet-shaped spacecraft launched atop a first-stage booster known as the Super Heavy. Both the booster and the spacecraft are designed to be reusable, although they were never meant to be salvaged Thursday.

On Starship’s inaugural launch last April, several of the booster’s 33 methane-fueled engines failed and the booster did not separate from the spacecraft, causing the entire vehicle to explode and crash into the gulf four minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX managed to double the length of the flight during November’s trial run. While all 33 engines fired and the booster peeled away as planned, the flight ended in a pair of explosions, first the booster and then the spacecraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration reviewed all the corrections made to Starship, before signing off on Thursday’s launch. The FAA said after the flight that it would again investigate what happened. As during the second flight, all 33 booster engines performed well during ascent, according to SpaceX.

Initially, SpaceX plans to use the mammoth rockets to launch the company’s Starlink internet satellites, as well as other spacecraft. Test pilots would follow to orbit, before the company flies wealthy clients around the moon and back. Musk considers the moon a stepping stone to Mars, his ultimate quest.

NASA is insisting that an empty Starship land successfully on the moon, before future moonwalkers climb aboard. The space agency is targeting the end of 2026 for the first moon landing crew under the Artemis program, named after the mythological twin sister of Apollo.

Boca China:

Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test flight Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said.

Lift-off from the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast that was watched by millions on social media platform X.

The sleek mega rocket is vital to NASA’s plans for landing astronauts on the Moon later this decade — and Elon Musk’s hopes of colonizing Mars someday.

“Congrats to @SpaceX on a successful test flight!” tweeted NASA administrator Bill Nelson following the test.

All eyes were on Thursday’s launch after two prior attempts ended in spectacular explosions. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing: The company has adopted a rapid trial-and-error approach to accelerate development, and the strategy has brought it numerous successes in the past.

– Objectives met –

When the two stages of Starship are combined, the rocket stands 397 feet (121 meters) tall — beating the Statue of Liberty by a comfortable 90 feet.

Its Super Heavy Booster produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 Meganewtons) of thrust, almost double that of the world’s second most powerful rocket, NASA’s Space Launch System — though the latter is now certified, while Starship is still a prototype.

Starship’s third launch test in its fully stacked configuration was its most ambitious yet and the company said it was able to meet many of its objectives.

These included opening and closing Starship’s payload door to test its ability to deliver satellites into orbit.

High definition footage from an onboard camera showed Starship coasting in space, with the curve of the Earth visible in the background. It hit a top speed of more than 26,000 kilometers per hour (16,000 mph) and achieved an altitude of more than 200 kilometers above sea level.

Starship flew halfway around the globe, then began its descent over the Indian Ocean, with engineers cheering as its heat shield composed of 18,000 hexagonal tiles glowed red hot.

But ground control stopped receiving signals and announcers declared the vessel “lost” before it could achieve its final goal of splashing down. The lower-stage booster also failed to make a successful water landing, and as a result, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was opening a “mishap” investigation.

“Starship will make life multiplanetary,” Musk, the company’s billionaire founder, posted on X afterward, emphasizing the progress made.

– Real world testing –

The first so-called “integrated” test came in April 2023. SpaceX was forced to blow up Starship within a few minutes of launch, because the two stages failed to separate.

The rocket disintegrated into a ball of fire and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, sending a dust cloud over a town several miles (kilometers) away.

The second test in November 2023 fared slightly better: The booster separated from the spaceship, but both then exploded over the ocean, in what the company euphemistically called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

It currently costs SpaceX around $90 million to build each Starship, according to a report by the research company Payload published in January.

SpaceX’s strategy of carrying out tests in the real world rather than in labs has paid off in the past.

Its Falcon 9 rockets have come to be workhorses for NASA and the commercial sector, its Dragon capsule sends astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, and its Starlink internet satellite constellation now covers dozens of countries.

But the clock is ticking for SpaceX to be ready for NASA’s planned return of astronauts to the Moon in 2026, using a modified Starship as the lander vehicle.

China is approaching in the rear view mirror, targeting 2030 to land its first crew on the Moon.

Not only does SpaceX need to prove it can launch, fly and land Starship safely — it must eventually also show it can send multiple “Starship tankers” into orbit to refuel, at supercooled temperatures, a main Starship for its onward journey to the Moon.

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