Few anticipated the world’s most powerful rocket’s maiden flight to last as long as it did on April 20, 2023, when SpaceX’s Starship gently lifted off the launchpad and into the Texas skies.
The spectators lined the surrounding roadways and erupted in cheers as Starship’s 33 engines propelled it into a cloudless sky once it had cleared the tower. The spacecraft then burst, returning to the sea in a shower of debris, three minutes and fifty-seven seconds into its scheduled ninety-minute journey.
The explosion was called “a rapid unscheduled disassembly” by SpaceX engineers, and Elon Musk, the company’s owner, called it “exciting”. A success was declared for the mission.
It was undoubtedly successful from an engineering standpoint and quite thrilling. Starship is a spaceship that is pushing the limits of rocket technology. Following its most recent flight in June 2024, some believe the spacecraft has a good chance of becoming a practical means of launching satellites into orbit and eventually, humans to the Moon. However, engineers discovered something startling after the first flight’s live coverage concluded: the launch had damaged both the launchpad and the rocket.
