Elon Musk was mocked for canceling the flight (Image: AP)
Tesla billionaire Elon Musk was mocked after his latest SpaceX Starship launch failed within 40 seconds.
The failed test marked the 10th instance of Musk’s company’s inability to get the spacecraft beyond Earth’s atmosphere. “Standing down from today’s tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems,” SpaceX said.
The rocket is still on the ground at SpaceX’s Starship facility in southern Texas, close to Brownsville, for the time being. X users mocked the tech tycoon moments after the postponement was announced.
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“Why does the biggest rocket ever built have an inability to go through clouds?” one joked. “Bummer that cloud got in the way. But it’s good we got confirmation everything else is good to go,” wrote a second.
For Musk and SpaceX, the test is crucial when it launches because it will demonstrate that the spaceship can accomplish essential objectives.
NASA also depends on Starship in order to land its astronauts on the moon.
“The stakes are the highest they’ve ever been for a Starship launch,” said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who spoke to the New York Times. But it’s not a “make or break” moment, he added.
The biggest and strongest rocket ever constructed is called Starship. Musk is even more bold when he claims that it will be completely reusable, with both stages going back to the launch location and being captured by enormous mechanical arms.
NASA astronauts are considering using the Starship (Image: AP)
The launch of larger and heavier payloads at much reduced prices could transform the space business if SpaceX succeeds in this goal.
The 400-foot-tall vehicle is made up of the Starship, an upper-stage spacecraft, and the Super Heavy, a potent booster stage with 33 engines.
Unlike NASA and other established aerospace corporations, which try to foresee every engineering issue before a test flight, SpaceX adopts a “break it and fix it” development attitude.
More failures result from that, but SpaceX has demonstrated that it can be quicker and more effective.
