The Starship SN9 that blew up on its final descent was a test model of the heavy-lift rocket being developed by Elon Musk's company

The Starship SN8, the first prototype to fly in a high-altitude test launch, met a similar fate in December


prototype rocket explodes on landing after test launch

The SpaceX Starship SN9 explodes into a fireball after its high altitude test flight from test facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, US on February 2, 2021.

SpaceX Starship prototype rocket explodes on landing after test launch

2 min read . 06:01 AM ISTSteve Gorman , Reuters

The Starship SN9 that blew up on its final descent was a test model of the heavy-lift rocket being developed by Elon Musk's company

The Starship SN8, the first prototype to fly in a high-altitude test launch, met a similar fate in December

A prototype of SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded during a landing attempt minutes after a high-altitude experimental launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday, in a repeat of an accident that destroyed a previous test rocket.

The Starship SN9 that blew up on its final descent, like the SN8 before it, was a test model of the heavy-lift rocket being developed by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's private space company to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars.
Reaching its peak altitude of about 10 kilometers (6 miles), the spacecraft then hovered momentarily in midair, shut off its engines and executed a planned "belly-flop" maneuver to descend nose-down under aerodynamic control back toward Earth.

The trouble came when the Starship, after flipping its nose upward again to begin its landing sequence, tried to reactivate two of its three Raptor thrusters, but one failed to ignite. The rocket then fell rapidly to the ground in a roaring ball of flames, smoke and debris - 6 minutes and 26 seconds after launch. No injuries were reported.

The , the first prototype to fly in a high-altitude test launch, met a similar fate in December.