SpaceX Conducts Amazing Starship SN9 Flight Test, Misses Landing [VIDEO]

All Image Source: TESMANIAN.com/photographer Evelyn J. Arevalo via Twitter

SpaceX is working hard to develop a Starship to create a spacefaring civilization. Starship will be a gigantic two-stage launch vehicle capable of transporting one hundred passengers on long-duration voyages through deep space. The founder and Chief Engineer at SpaceX Elon Musk says Starship is “the key to making life multi-planetary and protecting the light of consciousness.” He envisions a Starship fleet heading on a voyage to colonize Mars. Developing the spacecraft that could change the course of humanity’s future forever comes with many challenges. Musk is hell-bent on developing Starship despite all obstacles.

Teams are rapidly manufacturing and testing stainless-steel Starship prototypes at the SpaceX South Texas Facility. For the first time there was two Starship vehicles standing side-by-side at the launch pad this week. The incredible sight inspires to dream about an exciting future. The vehicles are referred to as SN9 and SN10 (serial number). On Tuesday, February 2nd, SpaceX launched the Starship SN9 vehicle on an amazing high-altitude flight test at Boca Chica Beach. Starship SN9 lifted off approximately 10-kilometers powered by a trio of methane-fueled Raptor engines. SN9 took a similar flight path as its predecessor, the vehicle conducted an aerodynamic landing flip maneuver. The flight lasted around six minutes as spectators along South Padre Island coast watched in awe. Even a ship carrying dozens of passengers stopped at sea to witness the flight test. Starship SN9's flight was going well up to when it tilted to a side upon descent, ending the test flight with a gigantic explosion, like the previous vehicle SN8. A TESMANIAN correspondent filmed the flight test and captured the vehicle’s explosion as spectators on the ship watched, video below.

All Image Source: TESMANIAN.com /photographer Evelyn J. Arevalo via Twitter

By trial and error is how engineers learn what is necessary to improve the spacecraft. “We had, again, another great flight up ... we’ve just got to work on that landing a little bit,” SpaceX Principal Integration Engineer John Insprucker said during the company’s live broadcast. “So all told, another great [flight] and a reminder, this is a test flight, the second time we’ve launched Starship in this configuration. […] We’ve got a lot of good data, and [achieved] the primary objective to demonstrate control of the vehicle and the subsonic reentry,” Insprucker said. Now, engineers will prepare the other vehicle that is awaiting at the launch pad, Starship SN10, as more prototypes are under construction to test out. SpaceX targets to develop Starship by the year 2023. Before sending humans to Mars, SpaceX plans to launch its first Starship customer, Yusaku Maezawa, on a voyage around the Moon alongside a group of artists. You can watch today’s flight test in the video below.