The rocket exploded - celebrated with champagne

USA  

Elon Musk's rocket exploded - that's why they celebrated with champagne anyway  

Of:  

Alexander Bönke  

Published: Less than 2 hours ago 

Updated: Less than 20 min ago  

NEWS  

The SpaceX rocket exploded shortly after launch.  

But it is not a disaster. The important part of the test was successful. 

- They had expected that it could go to hell after they left the launch pad. But it's calm, says Jonas Appelberg at the Swedish Space Agency.  

Elon Musk's rocket exploded over the Gulf of Mexico just minutes after launch.  

- Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unplanned disassembly, said a representative of SpaceX in the live broadcast, writes CNN. 

But just that the rocket made it off the launch pad is seen as a great success. According to the New York Times , the engineers at SpaceX celebrated by spraying each other with champagne and shouting "Go Starship". 

Achieved what you wanted  

Celebrating an exploded rocket may sound a little strange, but it has a natural explanation, according to Jonas Appelberg, communicator for the Swedish Space Agency. 

- The rocket was in two parts, both named Starship. This was the first time they took off together as a crew from the launch pad. That was really the test. Everything after that was just a bonus. They had expected it to go to hell after they left the launch pad. But it is calm. But if it had blown up already on the launchpad, they would not have been happy.  

In addition, the rocket managed to reach "MaxQ". Another goal with the postponement. 

- It is the time or height where there is maximum stress on the rocket itself. They reached it and passed.

The failure occurred when the top section was about to separate from the rocket section. 

- Then it sped away and exploded.  

What would happen if everything went exactly as planned then?  

- Had everything gone perfectly, the upper black spaceship-like part would have separated from the big rocket. Then the rocket had turned around and landed on a platform in the Gulf of Mexico. While the top part had shot out into space, before flipping over and crash landing in the Pacific Ocean.  

What is the next step for SpaceX?

 - Now they have learned a lot from this. Then it builds a new rocket. Then they set a new date for the next test. Then they want a little longer, we must assume. Both leave and separate. If they don't succeed, they might become dissatisfied. But now they were satisfied because they passed the first test. 

Going to the moon  

The type of rocket that was tested today - Starship - has been bought by Nasa which wants to use it to carry people to the moon as part of the Artemis programme. 

- If we are very lucky, the Swedish-American astronaut Jessica Meir will be taken out to Artemis 3. Then she will fly this Starship together with a bunch of others and land on the moon as the first woman. We don't know that yet, but she is one of nine who can come along, says Jonas Appelberg. 

Elon Musk. Photo: Carina Johansen / NTB