The world’s most powerful rocket Starship was suspended from flight

The FAA declared the launch of Starship V3 in Texas on May 22 (May 23, Hanoi time) as an accident and requested an investigation before this giant vehicle could continue to take off.

“The ability of the Starship – Super Heavy vehicle to be allowed to operate again depends on the FAA determining that any systems, processes or procedures related to the incident do not affect public safety,” the FAA announced on May 27. The agency will oversee the SpaceX-led investigation, participate every step of the way, and approve SpaceX’s final report, including remediation.

The Starship super rocket consists of two stages, the lower thrust stage is called Super Heavy, the upper stage is the Starship ship, or Ship for short. Both are designed to be completely reusable. Last weekend’s suborbital test launch was an important event for SpaceX. This is the 12th test flight with Starship since 2023 but is the first launch this year and also the first launch of the V3 version.

The mission went well in most respects. For example, Starship successfully deployed 20 fake Starlink Internet satellites and two other satellites equipped with cameras to take pictures of the ship’s heat shield in space. The Ship’s upper stage also “survived” a safe re-entry into the atmosphere, making a controlled landing off the coast of Western Australia as planned.

However, Super Heavy did not land gently in the Gulf of Mexico as expected. This rocket stage could not perform the necessary engine firing steps for a controlled landing, eventually falling hard into the sea. “The booster did not complete the entire reentry process. It ended the mission a bit early, but still landed in the safe area we established in advance,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said during the launch.

The FAA considered this an incident and asked SpaceX to investigate the cause. According to Spaceit is unclear how long the investigation will take, but SpaceX usually works very quickly. The order to suspend the operation of Falcon 9, the company’s main booster, issued by the FAA in February lasted only 4 days.

SpaceX believes that Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, will revolutionize space travel, making Mars settlement and other space exploration ambitions economically viable.

V3 is the latest version of Starship, about 124 m high. V3’s Super Heavy thruster is equipped with 33 Raptor 3 engines, estimated to provide about 8.2 million kg of thrust when taking off, nearly 10% more powerful than previous Super Heavy generations. The Ship, using 6 Raptor 3 engines, generates more than 1.5 million kg of thrust.

Theo Gizmodowith the above design, Starship V3’s payload is much larger, able to carry 100 tons of cargo into low Earth orbit, far exceeding the 35 tons of V2. V3 is also about 1.5 m taller and equipped with a new two-level connecting belt. Additionally, the V3 has only three instead of four net fins for stability during descent, each about 50% larger than the V2’s net fins.

According to SpaceX, this is the first version of Starship capable of flying into deep space. If everything goes according to plan, this version will bring astronauts to the lunar surface on NASA’s Artemis IV mission at the end of 2028.