Elon Musk's private space company, SpaceX, developed its first high altitude test flight of Starship rocket.
Nithya Satheesh
credits: SpaceX
Elon Musk's private space company, SpaceX, developed its first high altitude test flight of Starship rocket which exploded when attempted to land in December violating the terms of its Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test license. It was a 16-stage high prototype for the heavy-lift launch vehicle to carry humans and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the Mars and Moon.
An inquiry was initiated that week focusing on the explosive landing and concluded that the SpaceX's refused to follow the terms of FAA but it was unclear as what part of the test flight violated the FAA license said The Verge. FAA declined to specify a clear statement on that.
The self-guided rocket exploded while landing on a landing site following a controlled descent. The test flight was expected to reach 41,000 feet altitude, propelled for the first time by three of SpaceX's new Raptor engines.
However, the company had no idea if the rocket had flown so high. The FAA stated that it would assess the additional information provided by SpaceX as part of its license amendment request. They said in their statement that they will approve the modification only when they find that SpaceX has taken the necessary steps to comply with regulatory requirements.