Musk’s Starship exploded on launch in the US — video

On Thursday, January 16, a Starship superheavy rocket from SpaceX, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, exploded and crashed during its test launch. As a result, some planes were forced to change course to avoid being hit by the rocket debris. 

It was written by Reuters.

Starship rocket explosion 

A Starship rocket disintegrated in space a few minutes after launch, causing dozens of flights over the Gulf of Mexico to change course to avoid falling debris.

Departures from Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports in Florida were also delayed by about 45 minutes.

The article says that SpaceX’s flight control center lost contact with the upgraded rocket eight minutes after launch from a rocket base in Texas. It was carrying the first test payload of mock-up satellites but without a crew.

What Musk says

Elon Musk, the owner of the company, commented on the rocket incident.

"Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity. Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase vent area. Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month." — he wrote.

He noted that in addition to double-checking for leaks, the team will add fire extinguishing equipment and possibly increase the area of the ventilation holes. According to him, the next launch will take place in February.

On December 31, SpaceX launched a batch of 21 Starlink Internet satellites into space.

On January 16, the company of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, successfully launched the New Glenn rocket into Earth orbit for the first time.