SpaceX Starship SN10 launch - as it happened: Mars-bound prototype finally lands but explodes shortly after
Roughly eight minutes after landing, SN10 exploded while sitting at a lean on the landing pad
Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox
Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter
SpaceX has successfully performed a flight test of its Mars-bound Starship spacecraft on Wednesday after several delays.
Starship SN10 lifted off to 10km before landing successfully at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility in Texas, achieving what its predecessors could not.
Roughly eight minutes after landing, SN10 exploded while sitting at a lean on the landing pad.
Despite the explosion, the high-altitude flight test marked significant progress towards Elon Musk’s Mars ambitions.
SpaceX provided a live stream of the launch and landing, but did ended it before the explosion took place.
You can read all the updates as they happened here.
Countdown paused at 1 minute
Countdown pauses briefly but it has started again. 30 seconds now to go.
Still rising
Still rising. Aiming for 10km before the belly flop descent and landing flip manoeuvre.
Hovering in the clouds
Starship SN10 is using a single Raptor engine to hover in the clouds.
Touchdown
Here’s how Starship SN10 looked as it came into land, just over 6 minutes after launching.
Leaning Tower of Starship
It wasn’t a perfect landing, with images of the landing pad showing it leaning. But it didn’t explode, which is the important thing.
Explosion!
Scrub that last post, Starship SN10 just exploded.
Eight minutes after touching down, Starship SN10 exploded. SpaceX had stopped its official stream but the moment was caught by Nasa SpaceFlight.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies