SpaceX, Starship prototype failed to land again

SpaceX launched the SN11 prototype, a large rocket and spacecraft, Starship on March 30 (local time). This time, expectations for a successful landing were high, but eventually a problem occurred and crashed before entering the landing process.

This test launch was originally planned on March 25, and was postponed to the 29th by exchanging one out of three Raptor rocket engines. As the countdown proceeded, the aircraft that took off in the thick fog seemed to have reached an altitude of 10 km smoothly, but the camera image was cut off 6 minutes after the launch. The live commentator informed the situation that there is no need to wait for landing because SN11 is no longer returning.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said the combustion chamber pressure seemed to have been insufficient due to an engine problem, but this was not a problem in theory.

In the past, all Starship prototypes went into the landing process, corrected the aircraft’s posture, and the rest were destroyed at the stage of soft landing. In comparison, the SN11 landing process had a problem as soon as it started, and it was like a step back rather than the recent launch test.

However, SpaceX adopts a method of assembling multiple prototypes in parallel and applying the latest updates each time, so this failure will also be analyzed and corrections will be applied to later prototypes. However, in the 10km high altitude launch test, there is a possibility that the work that needs to be digested before the launch test on the track to be carried out this year may be delayed in order to proceed to the next stage since the landing was never successful.

Meanwhile, SpaceX unveiled the remaining two of the four passengers of Inspiration4, the first space flight mission through a civilian crew announced in February.

Inspiration 4 is a mission led by Gerard Isaacman, CEO of Shift4Payments, and the second member was elected by St. Jude Pediatric Research Hospital staff (Hayley Arceneaux). Participating this time is a Lockheed Martin employee (Christopher Sembroski), a former Air Force pilot, and two pilot qualification holders and Sian Proctors. Sambrosky was selected from among the 72,000 who contributed to the fundraising of the hospital, and Procter was selected by the judges from among the 200 who applied to the competition.

As of yet, it has not been decided when the Inspiration 4 mission will be implemented, and it is not clear what to do in the mission. However, blood samples and plant-related studies will be conducted. Jackman said it would launch by the end of September. The mission of a true civilian, without the participation of NASA agents, is remarkable around the world, but the mission is to recruit fundraising for the St. Jude Pediatric Research Hospital. May be. Related information can be found here.