SpaceX Starship Clears Tower, Fails to Reach Orbit

The test flight of the SpaceX Starship ended spectacularly about four minutes into its flight when the first stage appeared to fail to separate, and the worlds' most powerful rocket exploded.

"Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake."

SpaceX quality systems engineer Kate Tice.

On the launch timeline for the SpaceX Starship launch, the company had placed "Excitement Guaranteed'' at the 00:00 mark of the countdown. While the excitement wasn't caused by successfully reaching an orbital altitude, the sight of the massive spacecraft tumbling through the air and then exploding was certainly exciting.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk had given the flight test only about an 11 percent chance of success. The countdown was halted at T-40 seconds to perform some final checks, but resumed a few minutes later. Cheers erupted from the Hawthorne, CA flight control center as the engines came to life and the rocket cleared the tower.

But at about 4 minutes into the flight, something was obviously wrong. As the commentators said that the first stage should separate, SpaceX Starship began to go off course, and then tumble through the air. The launch was aborted and the spacecraft was destroyed.

Getting SpaceX Starship to Orbit was a Long Shot, Musk said

A fully successful launch was never guaranteed. "I guess I would just like to set expectations low," Musk told reporters on Sunday before the first launch attempt on Monday. "If we get far enough away from the launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don't blow up the launch pad."

"Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months." Musk Tweeted following the launch.

Now, the analysis of what went wrong begins. The SpaceX Starship transmitted telemetry back to Earth during the launch sequence, and that data will be analyzed by the company and the FAA to determine what caused the failure and "to verify that there were no public safety requirements that were not complied with, and that there is a robust investigation underway to get to the root cause of the mishap," according to the FAA.

"I do want to remind everyone that everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake," said SpaceX quality systems engineer Kate Tice, one of the SpaceX commentators during the launch.

(Images from SpaceX launch video)