SpaceX’s explosive Starship history ahead of critical test flight

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket is scheduled for a fourth test flight to space on Thursday 6 June, with a tricky primary objective: survive a blazingly hot re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, the violent phase where the rocket broke apart during its last attempt.

Starship, a two-stage rocket standing over 120 meters tall, is poised to launch from SpaceX’s rocket facilities in south Texas as early as 7am local time for the latest trial mission in the test-to-failure rocket development campaign of Elon Musk’s company.

Each Starship rocket has made it farther in its testing objectives than previous tests before failing, either by blowing up or disintegrating in the atmosphere.

Here, The Independent takes a look at the rocket’s explosive story so far.