![]() ![]() The flight termination system is essentially a self-destruct feature that SpaceX engaged to prevent the Starship from traveling off course. “The automated flight termination system on second stage appears to have triggered very late in the burn as we were headed down range out over the Gulf of Mexico,” aerospace engineer John Insprucker said. The SpaceX team awaited acquisition of signal from the spacecraft, but shared during the livestream that the “second stage was lost.” The rocket booster and then the spacecraft were lost shortly after liftoff. SpaceX's Starship launches on its second test flight from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday morning. Internationally, the Kármán line, located 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level, is often used to mark the boundary between our planet and space - but there’s a lot of gray area. The US government considers 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth’s surface the edge of outer space. ![]() Starship climbed to an altitude of about 93 miles (150 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface, reaching the edge of space. SpaceX aimed to send the spacecraft to near orbital velocities, typically around 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 kilometers per hour). The Starship spacecraft used its own six engines to continue propelling itself to faster speeds. About two and a half minutes after roaring to life and vaulting off the launchpad, the Super Heavy booster expended most of its fuel, and the Starship spacecraft fired its own engines and broke away. The Starship upper stage had begun its trip Saturday morning strapped to the top of the Super Heavy first stage, a 232-foot-tall (70.7-meter-tall) rocket. Even during ground tests, SpaceX has had a hard time getting all of those engines, clustered together at the base of the rocket, to power on consistently at the same time. ET, with the Super Heavy booster igniting all 33 of its Raptor engines. The rocket and spacecraft lifted off the launchpad at 8 a.m. The Starship system made it much farther into flight than the first attempt in April. But the Starship spacecraft was able to briefly continue its journey. That process ended up destroying the Super Heavy booster, which erupted into a ball of flames over the Gulf of Mexico. The Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft successfully separated after liftoff, as the Starship lit up its engines and pushed away. SpaceX’s gargantuan deep-space rocket system, Starship, safely lifted off Saturday morning but ended prematurely with an explosion and a loss of signal. ![]()
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