"What a week it's been for SpaceX. The company completed its first successful Starship test flight in nearly a year, and while it wasn't perfect, it sets up SpaceX for far more ambitious tests ahead. SpaceX's workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9, launched six times since our last edition of the Rocket Report. Many of these missions were noteworthy in their own right, including the launch of the US military's X-37B spaceplane, an upgraded Dragon capsule to boost the International Space Station to a higher orbit,"
"The sixth flight of Firefly's Alpha rocket launched in April from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, and failed when its first stage booster broke apart milliseconds after stage separation. This created a shockwave that destroyed the engine nozzle extension on the second stage, damaging the engine before the second stage ran out of propellant seconds before it attained orbital velocity."
SpaceX completed a Starship test flight after nearly a year and executed seven launches in seven days, including six Falcon 9 missions. Notable Falcon 9 missions included the X-37B spaceplane launch, an upgraded Dragon capsule lofting the ISS to a higher orbit, and the record 30th launch and landing of a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster. Firefly Aerospace closed its investigation into an April Alpha failure and received FAA clearance to resume launches. The sixth Alpha flight failed when its first-stage booster broke apart milliseconds after stage separation, creating a shockwave that destroyed the second-stage engine nozzle extension and damaged the engine before the second stage exhausted propellant; both stages fell into the Pacific Ocean.
Read at Ars Technica
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