Ben Turner is a U.K. based staff writer at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, among other topics like tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist.
SpaceX's Starship rocket just reached orbit for the very first time, but now it's gotten lost upon reentry.
The launch is the rocket's third test flight, and its first one to reach orbit; the previous two ended in dramatic explosions of the craft's 33-engine Super Heavy booster rocket that culminated in an environmental lawsuit. After conducting a number of maneuvers during the spacecraft's hour-long flight in orbit, mission control reportedly lost contact with Starship as it reentered Earth's atmosphere somewhere over the Indian Ocean.
"Starship reached orbital velocity!" Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX wrote in a post on X, formerly called Twitter, shortly after the successful launch."Congratulations SpaceX team!!"See moreOnce the rocket was in flight, mission engineers completed a number of tests, including re-lighting its engines in space and opening its payload door, before steering the craft back to splash down in the Indian Ocean.
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