First, the good news: SpaceX successfully ignited all six engines on its Starship S24 prototype during a static fire test.
Photo by CHANDA KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images
Now the bad. The test set off a super-hot hailstorm of debris that strayed hundreds of feet from the rocket, triggering a wildfire that “started burning unusually aggressively and quickly grew into walls of flames raging across the site,” the report said. the Teslaratic website.
The fire raged in all directions, eventually making its way into, you guessed it, a SpaceX container, burning for hours. Local firefighters were called to Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas to put out the fire. A video of the incident can be found on YouTube.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has not publicly commented on the accident. But he has touted the massive new spaceship as a vehicle that can transport humans to the moon, Mars and beyond. It is “a general transport mechanism for the greater solar system”, said Musk.
Starship is powered by Raptor engines, a huge booster on the first stage called Super Heavy, and a 50 meter high spacecraft on the top stage called Starship.
SpaceX is gearing up for a historic Starship space mission later this year.
