Starship Explosion Video: Watch Elon Musk's Rocket Explode After Launch | WSJ

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket exploded minutes after it cleared the launch pad during a flight test Thursday. Elon Musk had said the test posed steep challenges and risks.

Photo: SpaceX

#Starship #ElonMusk #WSJ

[GeorgeDownsWSJ]

This launch – and subsequent explosion – of Elon Musk’s Starship is actually just the very beginning of the spacecraft’s long road to carrying humans to different planets.

[ReportTheHackers]

The fact that it didn’t explode at ignition is already more than I expected

[stevenvasselljr.]

The amount of stress that was on the starshift as it was flipping is very impressive

[thetobi]

I still find it absolutely amazing that the ship held together during all that tumbling and flipping

[Packer]

Reminds me of something Steve Jobs said about a number of his failures. He said "the fact that some things failed means that some decisions were made. We'll fix them and move on". I always liked that because it means that sometimes you have to take risks and often the worst thing you can do is let fear of failure make you indecisive and idle.

[VeryJUICED]

I am mind-blown at the amount of stress that rocket can take from spinning like that over 600kph

[rationalactor]

I love how there's as much cheering for the launch as there was for the explosion. We are simple creatures.

[girlinvt]

The fact it's literally the most powerful rocket ever used and the ability to put that much thrust in such a small area with engines so powerful it blew the launch pad apart and left a crater underneath just from the amount of lift force from its engines was mind blowing. Uneven lift due to its engines power causing pad failure was a contributing factor to its loss of control and led to its having to be destroyed. Other than that it looked to be on target for a successful launch, definitely can't wait to see it in the next stage of development. The next thing to redesign is a stronger better reinforcement of the launch pad and how they achieve that goal will likely create newer unthought of advancements as well. Especially if they want to reuse the launch pad and tower, since rebuilding the pad after every launch would be an issue.

[-j-plum]

It's amazing how long the rocket took to get off the pad. A lot of weight, a lot of power.

[ddeboy]

They did so well for the first full launch. Congrats SpaceX.

[JoeStuffzAlt]

From the headline, I was expecting it early. Over 3 minutes in flight and this being the first flight... this is pretty impressive considering the engineering required

[vincentsierra]

The fact that this was their first attempt and made it that far makes me believe Elon has a great team and it won’t be long before they successfully produce such a craft.

[hamburgerhamburgerv]

That is the strongest rocket ever. No rocket can survive flipping over like that, and it did.

[TonyG]

I was amazed how it held itself together for so long after rotating a few times. Very impressive.

[scootaloo]

4:04 Everyone cheering after rocket hits firmament.

[attilaattila]

I work in the aerospace industry. We at work were ALL cheering as it ascended and we don’t even work for SpaceX. So inspiring. So exciting. Good job SpaceX, I’m sure you got LOADS of data. ONWARD!!!

[fearlessfosdick]

It is all about passing milestones. This flight passed two of them when it cleared the pad and when it passed max Q. That is what makes this test very successful. Now that it is known where some of the weaknesses are, future tests will probably pass more milestones until they have a reliable vehicle. For a first test on a prototype vehicle, this test was amazingly successful. The engineers have a lot to be proud of here. Of course, I am old enough to remember Redstones and Atlases blowing up on the pads before we began using them to carry the first astronauts during the Mercury Project.

[No_Inpa_Ticular]

I recognize that flipping maneuver from my KSP trials

[SCEForbiddenZone]

Hey, who can explain how the platform works?! Any video? 😅

[Walls]

It didn't explode at any of the highest stress points that most rockets fail at, but aborted after failing a maneuver no rocket has done before at this scale. That's impressive.

I was waiting for all the 'usual' failure points--failing to ignite, explosion on ignition, tipping after ignition, flipping at pitch over, Max-Q, throttle up cleanly through those hazards and into the unknown.