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By Ross Moyo
Could it be a case of once beaten twice shy after US President Donald Trump’s leading super cabinet secretary heading the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), billionaire and world’s richest man Elon Musk’s spaceship exploded in second failure for Mars colonisation programme.
A SpaceX rocket exploded shortly after it was launched from Texas yesterday, grounding flights and triggering warnings about falling spaceship debris.
SpaceX confirmed the un-crewed ship had suffered “a rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its ascent into space, and lost contact with the ground.
The massive SpaceX Starship, the largest rocket ever created, spun out of control shortly after its launch. No injuries or damage have been reported but images from those in Caribbean Sea island nations show fiery debris raining from the sky.
This was the eighth mission to test the rocket, and its second consecutive failure.
The 123m spaceship was meant to re-enter Earth’s orbit over the Indian Ocean after a one-hour flight.
SpaceX, which is owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said teams immediately started co-ordinating with safety officials for “pre-planned contingency responses”.
The statement added that SpaceX would review data to better understand the root cause of the misfire and noted the explosion happened after the loss of several engines.
Musk is yet to comment on yesterday’s explosion.
Starship is the biggest, most powerful rocket ever built, and is key to Musk’s ambitions for colonising Mars.
The SpaceX boss has envisioned people staying on the red planet in a self-sustaining city in 20 years.
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