$216 million SpaceX Starship explodes into fireball upon landing

THE $216 million (€179 million) SpaceX Starship explodes into a fireball upon landing during a test flight on Wednesday, December 9.

The rocket missed its landing pad and the thankfully unmanned capsule blew up as it smashed into the ground after its first high-altitude flight, having reached up to 40,000ft.

The full-scale prototype flew over the Gulf of Mexico following a successful launch before approaching too fast causing the rocketship to explode into a huge ball of flames.

A video of the incident was captured by World of Science on Twitter, with their captain reading: “So close! The SpaceX Starship SN8 flips before landing and undergoes a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

So close! The SpaceX Starship SN8 flips before landing and undergoes a rapid unscheduled disassembly. pic.twitter.com/7NA4gtmTNm

— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) December 9, 2020

The launch and mission were a part of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s vision to transport humans to Mars, in four years’ time, and the billionaire entrepreneur called it a successful ascent, claiming “we got all the data we needed” following the mission.

SpaceX intends to use the Starship to put massive satellites into orbit around Earth, besides delivering people and cargo to the moon and Mars.

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