By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.
In the morning of Thursday, April 20, 2023, history was made in South Texas.
At 8:34 a.m., SpaceX, a corporation with the focus of space exploration, headed by Elon Musk, launched the tallest and most powerful launch vehicle ever flown.
Minutes after takeoff, the massive machinery exploded over the Gulf of Mexico, failing to reach orbit. This was caused by problems with its separation mechanism. The plan was for the Super Heavy Booster to separate from the Starship minutes after takeoff, but this did not happen. The rocket began to spin not long after takeoff. SpaceX engineers also hypothesize that three of its raptor engines did not ignite.
This super-heavy launch vehicle hosted 33 raptor engines. During its test-firing earlier this year, two of those engines failed to ignite, but Musk ensured that 31 engines was still enough to achieve takeoff.
The Starship stood 394-feet tall, had a nine-meter diameter and a payload capacity of up to 150-tonnes.
Its design was for the purpose of being entirely reusable.
The SpaceX website states “Starship is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.”
Crowds from across the globe traveled by car, plane, boat and even bike to the Lower Laguna Madre, gathering together to witness this historical moment.
This was two days after the first orbit attempt, on Monday, April 17, 2023, was scrubbed do a valve-issue causing problems with pressurization.
Musk congratulated his SpaceX team on Twitter, stating “[We] learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
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