Starship launch debris covers Texas coast
SpaceX’s Starship rocket launch causes a massive debris field around the launch pad. The force of the rocket engines creates a crater under the concrete launch pad, sending debris away from the pad at thousands of miles an hour, causing damage to the nearby tank farm, a car parked miles away and forming a dust cloud that blocks out the sun over the Texas coast until strong winds blows it away. Video shows chunks of debris landing in the Gulf of Mexico.
Close up on the vast debris field created by the starship/superheavy launch. It's a crop from the video shot from starbase #SpaceX #StarshipLaunch pic.twitter.com/KYaloIFE7n
— MechDesign.xyz (@MechDesignxyz) April 20, 2023
Starship explodes four minutes into second test attempt
After being delayed from April 18, SpaceX makes a second attempt at launching Starship. After a short countdown hold at 40 seconds the spacecraft launches and clears the tower. Four minutes into the flight, at a height of 34km, the vehicle explodes, after the second stage fails to separate. Musk congratulates the team:
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.
Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!
Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months. pic.twitter.com/gswdFut1dK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
