SpaceX says it ‘lost’ Starship after mostly-successful third launch

Elon Musk-led SpaceX launched its Starship on Thursday for its third test flight. Starship did not explode this time but the company lost the spacecraft on reentry into the planet's atmosphere.

SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket lifts off on its third launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. March 14, 2024. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

Written by: Sethu Pradeep

4 min readKochiMar 15, 2024 12:55 PM IST First published on: Mar 15, 2024 at 12:55 PM IST

SpaceX’s Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket in history, took off from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica at 6.55 PM IST on Thursday. Unlike its previous two test flights, this time, the Elon Musk-led company’s mega-rocket did not explode, and it inserted the spacecraft into orbit. But after that, SpaceX confirmed that it lost the spacecraft.

The Starship rocket went farther than it did during the previous two flights but SpaceX said it lost communication with the spacecraft when it was reentering Earth’s atmosphere. It was supposed to splash down in the Indian Ocean but it most likely disintegrated or broke apart due to the stress of reentry.

But it would be wrong to think of the third test flight as a complete failure. It completed many mission objectives in a massive step forward for the spacecraft and launch system that Musk believes will take humanity to the Moon.

Unlike government space agencies like NASA and others, SpaceX has a more startup-like philosophy of failing faster and reiterating. This is why the two explosions during the previous two flights did not faze Musk or anyone else in the company. Even if things go wrong, they can learn from their mistakes and make a better attempt the next time.

The (relative) success of the launch on Thursday means that Starship is much closer to being used for actual space exploration missions after a so-far disastrous run of explosions during test launches.

The Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively called Starship, represent SpaceX’s next-gen launch systems. It will be used to transport astronauts and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the Moon, and potentially Mars.

Pending successful testing, Starship could become humanity’s most powerful launch system, capable of carrying payloads of up to 150 metric tonnes in reusable mode and 250 metric tonnes in expendable mode, per SpaceX.The Super Heavy booster serves as Starship’s initial stage. SpaceX intends for Super Heavy to achieve full reusability, returning to the launch site after each mission.

Starship’s development and delays in flight-readiness could have massive implications for human space exploration. NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which is set to be the first to land astronauts on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, could be delayed if Starship is not ready in time.

The American space agency in 2021 selected SpaceX to develop the first commercial human lander that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface. The four astronauts who will be part of Artemis 3 will travel to the Moon in NASA’s Orion spacecraft launched by the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS). Those two systems have already been tested and validated during the Artemis 1 mission and will be tested again during Artemis 2, which will take astronauts on a journey to the Moon and back without landing.

But after astronauts reach lunar orbit during the Artemis 3 mission, two of them will be transferred to a human landing system (HLS) variant of Starship, which will be tasked with taking the astronauts to the lunar surface and then bringing them back to orbit at the end of surface operations. After that, they will return to Orion where they will join their colleagues for a trip back home.

The relative success on Thursday after the two explosions during previous launches brings Starship one step closer to being ready for the upcoming Artemis 3 mission.