SpaceX’s Mars prototype exploded on landing Monday yet again.
The Starship SN9 was launched Tuesday as part of a high-altitude test flight, according to CNN. The SpaceX rocket was launched into the air several miles high before falling back to the launch pad and exploding.
WATCH:
A stunning flight from Starship SN9 but it didn’t stick the landing pic.twitter.com/w7rVkCDxID
— Supercluster (@SuperclusterHQ) February 2, 2021
It’s not clear exactly what went wrong with the landing. This isn’t the first time the Mars prototype has exploded upon landing. The Starship SN8 exploded on landing when launched in December.
Despite the explosion, Musk chalked up the latest launch as a win, thanks to the data SpaceX collected. (RELATED: SpaceX Successfully Launches 4 Astronauts To The Space Station)
“Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed!” Musk said in a tweet at the time.
Off Twitter for a while
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2021
Musk announced Tuesday on Twitter that he would be going off the app for a while. It’s unclear if it’s because this launch was not completely successful.
There has to be something good that came out of the launch today. I guess we’ll have to wait and see once Musk comes back to Twitter and can tell us what went down.