Elon Musk's starship explodes minutes after launch

Tengrinews.kz - The SpaceX Starship has exploded minutes after launch. It's the second failed test launch of the ship this year, according to dw.com.

The SpaceX Starship lost contact with ground control just minutes after launch, causing it to break apart and spew fiery debris into the air. The Federal Aviation Administration even had to stop air traffic at several Florida airports.

The accident comes two months after a similar incident involving another of Elon Musk's Starships. The 403-foot-long (123-meter) rocket blasted off from SpaceX's Boca Chica in Texas facility around 6:30 PM local time (11:30 PM GMT).

Although the first stage of the flight was successful, the Super Heavy booster separated and returned to Earth, where it was picked up in mid-air by a crane, the top of the Starship spinning as several engines shut down.

"Unfortunately this happened last time too, so we've got some practice now," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said on the SpaceX live stream of the event.

The SpaceX Starship is a two-stage vehicle, the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft. It is the largest, largest, and most powerful launch vehicle in history. It is designed to economically deliver cargo and people to low-Earth orbit, as well as interplanetary flights to the Moon and Mars.

The failures in the ship's tests call into question Musk's goal of sending people to Mars by the end of this decade.

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