The mega-rocket "Starship" of Elon Musk's "SpaceX" company, designed for missions to the Moon and Mars, was launched from the Boca Chica test site in Texas for a new test flight, world agencies reported, quoted by BTA.
The rocket is 123 meters high, that is, the height of a building with about 40 floors. It was launched shortly after 5:30 p.m. local time Thursday (23:30 GMT on Thursday). This is the eighth test of the rocket.
Shortly after the launch, however, it was reported that “SpaceX“ had lost control of the second stage of the rocket, with the engines shutting down. Later, it was reported that the company had also lost contact with the second stage, Reuters reported.
The first stage of the rocket successfully returned to the test site in Boca Chica and was "caught" by giant mechanized arms, as it had done on the previous two occasions.
During the previous, seventh test, however, the second stage exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, the Associated Press recalls. This happened about two months ago.
"Unfortunately, this happened last time," said Dan Hot, a representative for “SpaceX“. He said the company was working closely with air traffic control.
The explosion of the previous second stage of the rocket in January caused a shower of debris in the Caribbean and caused material damage in the Turks and Caicos archipelago, recalls Agence France-Presse.
The failed test led to the scattering of debris from the rocket's second stage over parts of the Caribbean. This in turn led to numerous flight diversions in the area around the Turks and Caicos and to flight cancellations and delays at four airports in Florida, Reuters reported.
The US Federal Aviation Administration issued orders to suspend flights to airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Palm Beach until 8:00 p.m. local time yesterday (01:00 GMT today). And planes departing from these airports are delayed by 45 minutes because of the missile incident.