A SpaceX Starship prototype destroyed in an explosion May 29 shortly after what initially appeared to be a successful static-fire test. The Starship SN4 vehicle had just completed a static-fire test at SpaceX’s test site at Boca Chica, Texas. It enveloped in a fireball that appeared to emanate from the base of the vehicle at 2:49 p.m. Eastern. The vehicle destroyed in the test, but there were no reports of injuries. The area around the launch site evacuated before such tests.
The explosion took place about two minutes after a static-fire test of a single Raptor engine in the base of the vehicle. The engine fired for several seconds and there were no immediate signs of problems after the engine shut down. In the seconds just before the explosion, though, there was extensive venting at the base of the vehicle not seen in previous tests.
SpaceX appeared to be moving toward the first free flight of a Starship prototype using this vehicle. The company received a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation on May 28. The same day the company carried another static-fire test without incident. The FAA has also issued restrictions for the airspace above the test site for June 1 and 2 consistent with a “hop” test.
This prototype is distinct from the company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. That rocket system has previously launched satellites and cargo to space successfully dozens of times, after years of development and testing.
More About SpaceX Starship SN4
SN4 is the fourth Starship prototype that destroyed in testing in a little more than six months. The company’s Starship Mark 1 vehicle, unveiled at a media event in September 2019. That destroyed in November during a cryogenic pressurization test. A second, SN1, was lost in a similar test Feb. 28. A third prototype, SN3, crumpled in an April 3 test, apparently because of a misconfigured test setup.
The rocket is called Starship, which the company is developing to launch people and cargo to the moon and Mars. The rocket designed to be reusable so SpaceX can launch and land it multiple times, like a commercial airplane. Starship’s shiny external appearance is because of the type of stainless steel that SpaceX is using to build the rocket.
The company appeared to have more success with SN4, completing a pressurization test on April 27. Followed by several static-fire tests using a single Raptor engine. Those tests, and the FAA license, suggested a flight test, at least to a very low altitude, was imminent. The SN4 prototype had passed several critical milestones during development. It includes a pressurization test that had foiled the previous version of the rocket. So far SpaceX has built and destroyed four Starship prototypes, due to a variety of different failures during testing. SpaceX has been aggressively developing Starship, with the company’s leadership setting the goal of reaching space later this year and the moon by 2022.
SpaceX has already been working on additional Starship prototypes, with observers at the Boca Chica test site seeing work on the SN5 and SN6 vehicles as well as initial hardware for an SN7 vehicle.
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Hi, I’m Mithunraj Kurunthil, an aspiring blogger with an obesession for all things tech. This blog is dedicated to helping people learn about technology.