Elon Musk’s latest SpaceX mission has been “lost” in space before it was able to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land.
Despite a successful launch, the first of its kind since the previous two ended in explosions, the Starship rocket lost signal on re-entry.
According to starship engineers, the ship was lost as it made its final approach to re-entry to Earth. Satellite data and other signals were lost simultaneously, indicating the ship failed suddenly.
Regardless, the ship is still the most successful in Starship’s short history, as it came close to completing all of its mission objectives.
Its engineers appear to still be happy with the results of the mission, which coincides with the company’s 22nd birthday.
The Starship launch was the third of its kind after the previous two attempts ended in explosions at various points along their short-lived journeys.
This rocket made it into space after launching from Boca Chica in Texas. However, its launch was delayed due to fears of unsuitable weather conditions as engineers battled high-speed winds.
It successfully launched into space and was meant to return to Earth, falling into an ocean.
Though both previous launches ended in flames, they were still hailed as successful by scientists, who said they helped them determine how to launch safely.
Elon Musk took to his social media platform X to congratulate the SpaceX team and celebrate their first successful Starship launch.
Though he was not at the control centre in Texas for the launch, based on the live stream footage, it appeared he was following along at home.
He wrote on X: “Starship reached orbital velocity! Congratulations @SpaceX team!!”
