Launch Failure
Liftoff Time (GMT)
13:33:09
Thursday April 20, 2023
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NASASpaceflight.com
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First integrated launch of Starship and Super Heavy. With this launch, Starship became the most powerful rocket ever to launch. After liftoff, the vehicle sustained fires from leaking propellant in the aft end of the Super Heavy booster, severing connections with the vehicle’s primary flight computer. This led to a loss of communication with most of the booster engines and eventually control of the vehicle. After the second stage failed to separate from the first stage, the vehicle reached an apogee of ~39km before tumbling downwards until the flight termination system was activated. Unexpected severe damage was also imparted on the launch pad.
Starship attempted to perform an integrated flight test to demonstrate an orbital launch capability. Had the vehicle not failed earlier in flight, Starship would have reentered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and had a splashdown 62 miles (100 km) northwest of Kauai.
Suborbital
Agency
SpaceXRocket
Diameter: 9m
Height: 119.5m
Liftoff Thrust
67,000 Kilonewtons
Fairing
Diameter: 9m
Stages
2
1st
Mission
1st
Mission of 2023
230th
Mission
26th
Mission of 2023