Spacecraft Ship 24 exploded on takeoff

The launch of a prototype of the Starship reusable transport system took place on April 20 at 16:28 Moscow time from the Boca Chica site in the southeast of Texas in the USA. The launch could be watched live on Twitter. After gaining a height of 38 kilometers, four minutes after launch, the Starship exploded.

Already in the third minute of flight integration tests, an emergency situation arose when the Ship 24 spacecraft could not separate from the Super Heavy carrier.

According to SpaceX's plans, after disconnecting from the carrier, Ship 24 was supposed to rise to a height of 235 kilometers, after which it would begin its descent and splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. The Super Heavy carrier was supposed to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico near Boca Chica.

Earlier, the head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, made a statement that the test would already be considered successful if the Starship took off and the launch pad was not damaged.< br>
According to SpaceX, the combination of Super Heavy and Starship is the largest, most powerful and lifting rocket system ever created by man. It will bypass such super-heavy carriers as Saturn V, Energia and Falcon Heavy. So, it is expected that in the reusable Starship mode, it will be able to launch up to 150 tons of payload into low Earth orbit, and up to 250 tons in a single one. Read about the invasion of giant pythons in the USA here