SpaceX’s Starship explodes minutes after landmark launch of world’s most powerful rocket system
SpaceX has launched the biggest and most powerful rocket ever made in a landmark test – but it exploded just minutes later.
Three days after an inaugural flight was scrapped due to a last-minute glitch, Starship took off from Boca Chica in southern Texas as thousands of spectators watched on nearby.
Live updates from landmark SpaceX launch
But the rocket system failed to separate as planned, and exploded less than four minutes into its flight.
SpaceX said Starship experienced a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly before stage separation”.
The rocket system launched…
…took to the sky…
…but didn’t reach orbit
Musk hails ‘exciting’ launch
SpaceX officials still declared the ambitious mission a success, as it marked the first time Starship and its massive booster rocket had taken to the skies.
Company boss Elon Musk congratulated the team on an “exciting test launch”.
Musk had sought to keep expectations in check beforehand, saying it had a 50% of reaching orbit at the first try.
But more launches are planned, and he believes there’s an 80% chance of success before the end of the year.
“Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months,” Musk tweeted after Thursday’s test.
Elon Musk was seen on SpaceX’s livestream shortly after the explosion
SpaceX’s record-breaking rocket
Starship is made up of two stages – a Super Heavy booster that generates the needed power to reach orbit, and the spacecraft tipped to one day take humans back to the moon and eventually Mars.
Combined, the craft and booster – which has 33 rocket engines – have a record-setting height of 120m.
It was hoped Thursday’s test would see the craft separate from the booster and complete a full orbit of the Earth.
Thousands of people watched from near the launchpad
What might have been…
If completely successful, Starship would have completed a full orbit of the Earth and splashed down into the Pacific.
The booster – a prototype called Booster 7 – would have been discarded into the Gulf of Mexico.
The whole flight would have taken about 90 minutes.
Thankfully, there was no cargo aboard Starship for Thursday’s launch, let alone people.
Starship launch a major step forward despite explosive finale
Seeing Starship fly 39km into the atmosphere, only failing at the point the upper stage was supposed to separate from its Super Heavy booster, was beyond SpaceX’s expectations – though perhaps not their hopes.
This was the first time the Super Heavy booster has ever flown. Before launch, success for this mission would have been it clearing the launchpad.
It managed to do that and a lot more. About 55 seconds into the flight, it passed a point called max Q, the point where forces on the spacecraft are at the highest before it enters the less dense upper atmosphere.
Achieving that is an important validation of this rocket’s design and construction.
That’s why instead of cries, there were cheers when, after tumbling over and over in the stratosphere, Starship blew up. Or experienced a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly” in the words of SpaceX.
SpaceX boss Elon Musk was in the control room for launch. It’s fair to say he didn’t look thrilled when Starship failed to separate.
But he will know today was a major step forward in his efforts to build a rocket big enough to one day take people to the Moon, and Mars.
And, with the successful launch of the world’s biggest ever rocket, a moment in space history.
After all, it was Musk who once said: “If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
Musk hopes Starship will eventually be used to carry satellites into space – and take humans to the moon and Mars.
NASA has signed up to use it to transport astronauts back to the lunar surface via its Artemis programme by 2025.
Starship’s first orbital test comes after the US flight regulator issued SpaceX with a five-year licence, saying it met all safety and environmental requirements.
World
Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney named prime minister of Canada – succeeding Justin Trudeau
Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been named Canadian prime minister after winning the Liberal Party leadership race in a landslide victory.
Mr Carney, who also used to be the head of Canada’s central bank, emerged as the frontrunner in the contest as the country deals with the impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
He ended up winning 85.9% of the vote.
During his victory speech, he told the crowd: “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living.
“He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”
Mr Carney said Canada would keep retaliatory tariffs in place until “the Americans show us respect”.
Mr Trump’s tariffs against Canada and his talk of making the country America’s 51st state have infuriated Canadians.
The American national anthem has been repeatedly booed at NHL and NBA games.
“Think about it. If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life… America is a melting pot. Canada is a mosaic,” Mr Carney added.
“America is not Canada. Canada will never ever be part of America in any way, shape or form.”
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‘You can’t take our country or our game’
The 59-year-old will replace Justin Trudeau, who has served as prime minister since 2015.
Mr Trudeau announced he was stepping down in January after facing calls to quit from a chorus of his own MPs.
The 53-year-old’s popularity had declined as food and house prices rose.
Mr Carney will now have to decide when to call a general election in Canada – which must take place on or before 20 October.
In 2013, he became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.
His appointment was popular in Britain after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.
Read more:
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During leadership debates, Mr Carney argued he was the only person prepared to handle Trump.
“I know how to manage crises,” he said.
“In a situation like this, you need experience in terms of crisis management, you need negotiating skills.”
The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election.
US President Donald Trump has suggested Ukraine “may not survive” the war against Russia even if American support continued.
In an interview with Fox News channel’s ‘Sunday Morning Futures’, Mr Trump was asked about his controversial decision to pause support for Kyiv as it fends off Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Mr Trump, who had a disastrous meeting with Mr Zelenskyy at the White House last week, was asked about a warning from Polish President Andrzej Duda “that without American support, Ukraine will not survive”.
Asked if he was “comfortable” with that outcome, the US president said: “Well, it may not survive anyway.
“But we have some weaknesses with Russia. You know, it takes two,” Mr Trump added.
Donald Trump. File Pic: Reuters
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It comes as Mr Zelenskyy will visit Saudi Arabia for a Monday meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives will meet with a US delegation on Tuesday.
Mr Trump’s latest remarks come amid global concern over the souring relationship between Ukraine and the US, which alongside the EU has been Kyiv’s main backer in its defence against Russia’s three-year land, air and sea invasion.
The US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on 28 February descended into acrimony in front of the world’s media.
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Mr Trump ordered the pause as he attempts to put pressure on Mr Zelenskyy to negotiate a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Mr Trump has privately made it clear to aides that a signed minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv will not be enough to restart aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, Sky News’ US partner network NBC reported earlier on Sunday.
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The 78-year-old president is said to want the deal signed, but also wants to see a change in Mr Zelenskyy’s attitude towards peace talks.
Officials have told NBC News that Mr Trump also wants Mr Zelenskyy to make some movement towards holding elections in Ukraine and possibly stepping down as his country’s leader.
Mr Zelenskyy said in a recent interview he would be ready to step down as Ukraine’s president if it meant his country would become a NATO member and find peace.
That came after he was branded a “dictator” by Mr Trump as Ukraine had not held fresh elections – despite laws prohibiting it during wartime.
World
Russian forces creep through disused gas pipeline in attempt to launch surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers
Russian special forces crept through a disused gas pipeline for several miles to launch a surprise attack on Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s military and pro-Moscow war bloggers have said.
Footage circulating on the Telegram app claims to show the elite soldiers crouching as they make their way through the darkness of the pipe to the town of Sudzha.
Some can be heard cursing in Russian and complaining about the commanders who sent them on the mission.
One of the soldiers is heard saying: “F*****g hell, where the f*** are we, boys?”
Another says: “Where does the pipe go? To Sudzha, for f**** sake, that’s f***ing crazy.”
Later in the clip a soldier is heard saying: “We’ll get there of course, but indignantly, because we’re f*****g sick of the f*****g command.”
He later adds: “They took our f*****g assault rifles too.”
Two of the soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes while a separate image shared on Telegram shows an operative wearing a gas mask.
The footage shows soldiers creeping through the pipeline
Soldiers are seen smoking cigarettes
The special forces soldiers walked around nine miles (15km) through the pipeline which Moscow had until recently used to send gas to Europe, according to Telegram posts by Ukrainian-born pro-Kremlin blogger Yuri Podolyaka.
In the footage, the soldiers suggest the mission requires them to walk seven miles through the pipe.
Mr Podolyaka says some of them spent several days in the pipeline before striking Ukrainian units from the rear near Sudzha.
The operation formed part of efforts by Russia to recapture areas of Kursk which were seized by thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in a shock offensive in August last year.
Another pro-Russian war blogger, who uses the alias Two Majors, said a major battle is under way in Sudzha after Moscow’s special forces crept through the pipe.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s general staff confirmed on Saturday that Russian soldiers had used the pipeline in an attempt to gain a foothold, but airborne assault forces promptly detected them, and they responded with rocket, artillery and drone attacks that destroyed Moscow’s units.
“The enemy’s losses in Sudzha are very high,” the general staff reported.
Read more:
US pausing military aid is ‘betrayal’, Ukrainian soldier tells Sky News
Russia ‘appears to have ignored Trump warning’ after deadly strike
A close-up image of one of the soldiers in the pipeline
The soldiers crept through the tunnel for several miles
It comes as Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces shared a video on Telegram on Saturday which it claims shows Kyiv’s forces repelling Russian forces in Kursk with airstrikes.
Sky News has not independently verified the footage.
Months after Kyiv’s forces seized parts of Kursk, Ukrainian soldiers are weary and bloodied by relentless assaults of more than 50,000 Russian troops, including some from Moscow’s ally North Korea.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers run the risk of being encircled, open-source maps of the battlefield showed on Friday.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning that it had captured a settlement in Kursk and another in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
Russia also launched heavy aerial attacks overnight on Ukraine into Saturday – with at least 22 people killed, including 11 in the frontline town of Dobropilla in Ukraine’s embattled eastern Donetsk region.
Ukrainian president Voldymyr Zelenskyy described the attacks as a “vile and inhumane intimidation tactic” by Russia.
The attacks come after the US paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Mr Zelenskyy descended into a confrontation in front of the world’s media.
The Trump administration’s stance on Ukraine and apparent favouring of Moscow has sparked concern among European leaders.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told Sky News on Sunday that European countries should “absolutely” introduce conscription as he conceded the continent was “quite weak” militarily in the face of the Russia threat.
Meanwhile, Russian officials have been criticised after presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders on International Women’s Day.
Russia is often accused of throwing its troops into a “meat grinder” with little regard for their lives.
The local branch of government in the northwestern Russian town of Polyarniye Zori defended itself against the backlash, saying critics were making “callous and provocative interpretations” of the gifts.
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