SpaceX has launched its third Starship Super-Heavy rocket on a test flight that went almost completely according to plan.
SpaceX Releases Big Starship Flight 5 News!
The 110-minute test window opened at 0700 CT on March 14, and after a delay to remove craft from the area, the 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster ignited and the Starship stack left the pad at 0825 CT.
Things seemed to be going perfectly at first. Staging occurred as expected, and the booster began its journey back to Earth. However, it turned out to be a loss of control when the booster went down for landing, and all the required engines did not reignite. The result was a crash in the Gulf of Mexico.
Still, at least the second stage, Starship, made it into near-orbit and re-entry. SpaceX demonstrated opening and closing the payload door and called out propellant transfer operations, but a number of observers noted that something was venting from the Starship.
