Starship, the largest rocket ever built, reached space on Saturday after a failed launch several months ago. The first stage lifted the rocket off the launch pad and carried it to an altitude of about 75 kilometers, where the second stage engines ignited. However, about ten minutes after launch, the control center lost contact with the rocket.
The first launch of the Starship rocket, in April, went wrong almost immediately. A few minutes after launch, the 120-meter rocket exploded. Space company SpaceX nevertheless spoke of a successful test.
During the previous launch the launch pad broke down. Chunks of concrete then flew into the air from the explosive force of the rocket engines. SpaceX, the space company of American entrepreneur Elon Musk, has overcome this this time with a kind of inverted ‘shower’ that sprays water into the air.
The enormous rocket took off from Boca Chica, the SpaceX launch center on the US border with Mexico, and should have made an almost complete orbit around the Earth before ending up in the sea in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. The first rocket stage was supposed to end in the Gulf of Mexico. However, both plans did not materialize. The first stage exploded shortly after disconnection at an altitude of tens of kilometers. It is not yet known how the second one ended. Ultimately, Starship must take people to the moon and even Mars.
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