SpaceX’s Starship Launch Was Like A Bomb Destroying The Launch Pad

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SpaceX launched its Starship rocket amidst much fanfare and anticipation earlier this week. The rocket, which took off without any protection for the launch site, left a massive crater in its wake and destroyed the base of the launch tower. With the proverbial 'dust' clearing up after the historic launch, speculation is rife about why the first and second stages of Starship were unable to separate after liftoff, with some even suggesting that the rocket has to 'flip' before the second stage separates to provide the latter with enough force to race away from the Super Heavy booster safely.

SpaceX's Starship rocket uses 33 engines to liftoff, making it the world's only super heavy rocket right now, apart from NASA's Space Launch System. This makes the rocket generate millions of pounds of force, greater than NASA's Saturn V rocket that sent humans to the Moon. While the Falcon Heavy is also rated to launch more than 50 tons to orbit (NASA's official classification for a super heavy rocket), it is yet to launch such a payload despite being operational for several years.

Starship's thrust, stated to be a whopping 17 million pounds, makes the rocket capable of lifting a stunning 250 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) if its upper stage is expendable. The thrust also requires shielding on the launch site, and SpaceX's decision to launch it without the shielding earlier this week made the launch site appear as if a bomb had ripped through it.

Footage from several sources showed a massive crater at the base of the launch tower. The orbital launch mount (the 'stand' for the 394 feet tall rocket) was