SpaceX Starship breaks apart after launch in second failure in a row
CBSN
SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program's eighth test flight Thursday, but a malfunction of some sort triggered multiple upper stage engine shutdowns and the vehicle failed to reach its planned sub-orbital altitude, breaking apart in a spectacular shower of debris.
It was the second failure in a row for a Starship upper stage, a vehicle critical to NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon in the next few years.
"Obviously, a lot to go through, a lot to dig through. We're going to go right at it," said SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot. "The primary reason we do these flight tests is to learn. We have some more to learn about this vehicle, but we're going to be right back here in the not-too-distant future, and we're going to get a ship to space."
