SpaceX’s second Starship flight test ends in an explosion minutes after launch

Screenshot: Wes Davis / The Verge

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket just took off shortly after 8AM ET from the company’s Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

A few minutes after the launch and a planned “hot stage” separation, the Super Heavy booster exploded instead of continuing its planned descent and water landing, but Starship itself continued into space. Minutes later, the SpaceX team said it had not received any signal from the booster and that they may have lost the ship.

That far into its flight, the craft was likely no longer in range of ground stations, but it appears the craft’s flight termination system engaged soon after its Raptor engines shut down.

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