Breaking: On its first test flight, SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket cleared the launch pad, soared into the south Texas sky, but ultimately exploded into a trail of smoke.
On its first test flight Thursday morning, SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket cleared the launch pad, soared into the south Texas sky, but ultimately exploded into a trail of smoke.
But instead of separating, the still-conjoined rocket tumbled head over head before it ultimately exploded.Stacked together, the two-part rocket stands nearly 400-feet tall and can carry more than 220,000 pounds. It has about twice the thrust of the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket that ferried astronauts to the moon.Although SpaceX built its reputation and manifest on the smaller Falcon 9 rocket, the company needs to expand its business beyond launches. That’s where Starship comes in.
SpaceX plans to launch more capable versions of the Starlink satellites that are larger and would require many more launches if flown on a Falcon 9 rocket. But with Starship’s carrying capacity, the company would be able to launch more satellites at a time, allowing SpaceX to build its broadband capacity faster and serve more customers.that revenue from providing internet service could total $30 billion a year, while launch revenue would top out at about $3 billion a year.
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