SpaceX Starship SN11 launch - As it happened: Elon Musk says Mars-bound rocket made ‘crater’

SpaceX Starship SN11 launch: confusion amid fog-shrouded flight test of mars-bound rocket.mp4

SpaceX has completed the fourth major flight test of a Starship rocket, which appears to have ended in a huge explosion once again.

Poor weather conditions at the launch site means it is still unclear what happened, but SpaceX boss Elon Musk said “something significant happened shortly after landing burn start” that resulted in a crater.

The attempt to launch and land a Starship rocket on Tuesday from SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility in Texas came less than four weeks after the last test ended in a fiery explosion.

Previous launch attempts on Friday and Monday were scrubbed - the first due to technical issues, the second as a result of an absent FAA inspector.

All three previous Starship flight test have ended in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”, as SpaceX puts it, and a successful launch and landing would have been a major step towards realising Musk’s Mars ambitions.

SpaceX posted a live stream of the event a few minutes before it took place.

[30 March 2021 14:05 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Just as we’re about to reach the 10km apogee, SpaceX’s stream has gone dark.

[30 March 2021 14:05 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Onboard footage has returned, and the belly-flop descent has begun.

[30 March 2021 14:06 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Starship SN11 is coming back through the fog and we’re about to see if it can land.

[30 March 2021 14:07 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

It’s hard to tell what’s actually happened here. Camera crews on the ground are reporting debris.

SpaceX’s stream is frozen.

[30 March 2021 14:09 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

SpaceX’s commentator on the official stream describes it as “another exciting test”, but says he doesn’t actually know what happened.

[30 March 2021 14:09 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

“We do appear to have lost all the data from the vehicle,” SpaceX commentator says.

[30 March 2021 14:13 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

SpaceX’s live stream has now ended, but there is still no official word on what actually happened.

[30 March 2021 14:14 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

This is the last view we had of Starship SN11.

(SpaceX)

[30 March 2021 14:18 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

The team at NasaSpaceFlight, who have cameras stationed around Boca Chica, say they expect it was an explosion. One of their cameras “definitely took a hit,” they say.

[30 March 2021 14:26 · Anthony Cuthbertson]

Still no word from SpaceX. The explosion may have actually occurred before the landing, explaining why the feed cut out.