Elon Musk's ambitious plan delayed again: What happened during the Starship test?

The American private aerospace company SpaceX has conducted the 15th test flight of its Starship rocket system. However, the company was unable to fully execute one of its most ambitious goals this time: returning both parts of the rocket to the launch pad.

Technical malfunction and the fate of the rocket's first stage

On the night of November 14 of this year, Starship lifted off once again from the spaceport in Texas. Company head Elon Musk had previously announced that the plan was to successfully return both the Super Heavy booster and the upper Starship spacecraft to the launch site.

However, technical malfunctions that occurred during the flight forced a change in plans. During the broadcast, the commentator stated the following:

"It looks like the booster will now splash down in the water and will not return to be caught," — the commentator said.

As a result, due to the issues that arose, the Super Heavy booster could not return to the launch site and was ditched into the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship spacecraft flight continues

Although the plan to recover the rocket was not fully realized, the upper Starship spacecraft is continuing its flight in space successfully. According to the plan, the craft is expected to complete about 14 orbits around the Earth and deploy 26 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.

As a reminder, Starship is designed as the largest and fully reusable transport system in human history. It has a total height of nearly 124 meters and weighs 5,000 tons. The system consists of the Super Heavy booster, equipped with 33 engines, and the transport spacecraft named Starship.

Do you think SpaceX will be able to turn the Starship rocket into a fully reusable and safe system in the near future? Leave your thoughts in the comments!