We’re all waiting to see if SpaceX can salvage at least part of a test that was meant to be the “Holy Grail of rocketry”: the elusive double catch. Fully employing the long-in-the-works “Mechazilla” launch structure, SpaceX was aiming to:
Before Friday, no one had ever recovered a full orbital launch system—which would mean both stages can be reused. And unfortunately that still hasn’t happened because the test has not been a total success so far.
The booster catch was at one point on track, SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said according to Space.com, but “in the later stages of the coast, the booster aborted itself for a GNC issue that it detected, and that put it into its contingency landing offshore.”
That’s a nice way of saying the Guidance Navigation Control system had some kind of issue and the booster initiated its apparent plan B, which is to stay well clear of the precious Mechazilla tower, and instead to intentionally blow itself up just above the Gulf of Mexico. The spectacular explosion was captured by onlookers and posted on social media:
بوستر فوق سنگین استارشیپ spacex امروز موقع فرود منفجر شد. قرار بود این اولین ازمایشی باشه که هم بوستر هم خود استارشیپو روی برج پرتاب فرود میارن. pic.twitter.com/CaCwpI58gq
