Engine Failures Doomed SpaceX Super Heavy Debut Flight

SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy launchpad

SpaceX’s first Starship/Super Heavy launch torched through its concrete launchpad, scattering debris as far away as Port Isabel, Texas, about 6 mi. from the launch site.

SpaceX had planned to reinforce the Starship/Super Heavy concrete launch mount with water-cooled steel plates before the world’s most powerful booster lifted off with twice the thrust of a Saturn V or a Space Launch System Moon rocket. But that would have meant delaying the vehicle’s flight test...

Engine Failures Doomed SpaceX Super Heavy Debut Flight is part of our Aviation Week & Space Technology - Inside MRO and AWIN subscriptions.

Subscribe now to read this content, plus receive full coverage of what's next in technology from the experts trusted by the commercial aircraft MRO community.

Already a subscriber to AWST or an AWIN customer? Log in with your existing email and password.