SpaceX hits milestone with successful Starship launch in its quest to land on Mars

SpaceX has conducted its third orbital test flight of the world's largest and most powerful rocket, Starship, flying further and higher than it ever has before.

Starship blasted off from the launch pad at the Starbase facility in South Texas on March 14 and went on to accomplish many mission objectives before the vehicle experienced a RUD, which SpaceX calls "rapid unscheduled disassembly," or boom. Starship executed its second hot-stage separation, which is when Super Heavy disconnects from the ship. Additionally, SpaceX's crown jewel of launch vehicles became the first Starship rocket SpaceX has built to complete its full-duration ascent burn and reach orbit.

The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket hit orbit, and then upon its re-entry back to Earth, where it was going to splash down in the Indian Ocean, communications were lost, resulting in the boom. Despite the RUD, SpaceX has described the launch as a "phenomenal day," as all of the objectives that were completed during the third orbital test flight will assist SpaceX in its next test flight, which it plans to do very soon.

2

The eventual plan for Starship is to be a fully reusable rocket that is capable of transporting people and cargo to the surface of the Moon for NASA's Artemis missions and Mars.