FAA to investigate the second Starship launch self-explosion of SpaceX

CTOnews.com, November 19 (Xinhua) last night, SpaceX conducted the second comprehensive test of Starship (starship / starship / starboat), with the goal of successfully orbiting the earth and then returning to Earth, but Saturday's flight ended in just eight minutes.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) believes that the result is an accident and will supervise the SpaceX to investigate the cause of the accident. FAA added in another post that there were no reports of casualties or damage to public property caused by the flight.

SpaceX officials said that during the test, the starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the super-heavy booster and passed the interstage thermal separation. However, officials admit that the booster experienced a rapid unplanned decomposition shortly after the stage separation (exploded after the live broadcast showed the separation), while the starship's engine continued to burn for a few minutes on its way to space.

▲ source: after the first test mission of the starship, SpaceX, FAA also conducted a supervisory investigation. In addition to the fuel leak, the launch damaged some of Starbase's infrastructure, blasting a crater under the facility's orbital launch bracket and scattering concrete blocks and other debris in the surrounding area.

As previously reported by CTOnews.com, FAA finally concluded its investigation into the accident on September 8, but did not issue a launch license for SpaceX's second flight test until November 15, after it had completed a safety review and environmental assessment.