Elon Musk tells what problems arose during Starship launch, how they blew up world's largest rocket

Elon Musk, the head of the SpaceX company, told the details of the problems that occurred during the launch of the world's largest rocket, Starship, on April 20, and how it was blown up in the end.

Musk said it all started when three of the 33 Raptor engines shut down before launch. “The system didn’t think they were healthy enough to bring them to full thrust, so they were shut down,” Musk said. The loss of the three engines caused Starship to lean to the side as it headed upward. “We do not normally expect a lean,” Musk said. “It should be actually going straight up.”

Twenty-seven seconds into takeoff, another engine developed some sort of problem; it appears to have been damaged and is starting to damage some of the engines on the side.

“The rocket kept going, though,” Musk added.

As per the head of SpaceX, “where things really hit the fan” was when the rocket lost self-control in the 85th second of the flight and began to move here and there.

After that, the Starship spiraled out of control and continued to fly even after being ordered to stop.

“It took way too long to rupture the [fuel] tanks,” Musk said, referring to the flight termination system, which is designed to destroy the rocket if it goes out of control.

According to him, it also proves how strong the rocket is.

“The vehicle’s structural margins appear to be better than we expected,” Musk said, adding that for the next launch, more explosives could be added to ensure that “the rocket explodes immediately if flight termination is necessary.”

As per Musk, the other surprise for SpaceX was that the concrete of the launch pad did not withstand it. He said that everything went well during the tests, although he added that the Raptor's engines were only running at half power during the tests.

The simultaneous operation of thirty engines damaged the launch pad's concrete base and generated a “rock tornado” that scattered debris across hundreds of acres and generated a giant dust cloud.

“Basically a human-made sandstorm, but we don’t want to do that again,” Musk said, denying reports that chunks of concrete damaged the engines.

Elon Musk said that he does not guarantee that the second attempt to launch Starship will be more successful. According to his calculations, 4-5 more test flights may take place this year.

“We’ve probably got an 80 percent probability of reaching orbit this year,” Musk said. “I don’t want to tempt fate, but I think close to 100 percent chance of reaching orbit within 12 months.”

According to the original plan, the Super Heavy rocket was supposed to land in the Gulf of Mexico, about 30 kilometers from Boca Chica Beach, and the Starship was supposed to separate from the rocket about 3 minutes after takeoff and develop a speed close to orbital, then it was supposed to fall into the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Hawaii. This reusable space system consists of a Starship—a prototype of Ship 24—and a Super Heavy rocket—a prototype of Booster 7). It was supposed to launch up to 150 tons of payload into orbit.

NASA has selected SpaceX's Starship as the first crewed landing module for its Artemis lunar exploration program, which is expected to land astronauts on the lunar surface by the end of 2025. Before this, however, the spacecraft must pass many tests and prove its suitability for this mission.