The test flight of SpaceX Corporation's new "StarShip" ended in a fiery explosion as the Automated Flight Termination system blew up the rocket just minutes after liftoff from its launchpad in Texas.
All seemed to be going well after lift-off but minutes into the flight, at least five of the "Raptor" rocket engines turned off. The remaining 28 engines brought the rocket into "Max Q" which is the part of flight with the most dynamic stress on the vehicle, and while in MaxQ, the rocket began going off course and spinning.
A few short minutes later, the Automated Flight Termination system determined the rocket was no longer safe, and blew-up the ship so as to prevent a catastrophe if the rocket plummeted to earth.
While this test flight failed, there are literally mountains of data that have been received about the flight, the condition of the ship, and likely, whatever caused the flight to fail.
Now, it's up to technicians and scientists to analyze that data, figure out what went wrong, and make changes in order to try again.
Bear in mind the entire purpose of this flight was to TEST the new StarShip and its design. Tests often fail, which is how improvements get made so that, at some point, flights will be successful. IT is literally trial-and-error. This is how progress gets made.
At some point in the future, SpaceX believes it will be able to safely carry humans to and from the moon, and other planets.
