SpaceX Successfully Launches Starship’s Second Test & Completes Key Milestone

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SpaceX's Starship rocket lifted off from the Boca Chica, Texas, test site earlier today after months of waiting and speculation. The world's largest rocket took off from the pad a little after 7 a.m. local time and, soon after its ascent, completed the crucial event of hot stage separation. However, based on initial footage, the first-stage Super Heavy rocket booster's engines did not re-ignite successfully after stage separation. Instead, the rocket exploded mid-air 75 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Yet, by this time, the second stage had traveled quite far, and it did not take any damage from the debris flying around from the 165-foot-tall rocket.

The second Starship flight was quite refined when compared to the April test. Back then, three Super Heavy Raptor 2 engines shut down as soon as the rocket lifted, although perhaps not due to any fault of their own. A big reason behind the failed stage separation for the April test was that blast damage to the launch pad ejected chunks of concrete that damaged several of the Super Heavy's systems.

This time around, not a single Raptor engine shut down before the stage separation that took place a little under three minutes. The stage separation was as smooth as possible, with the first and second stages cleanly separating as planned. However, stage separation was the end of the journey for the Super Heavy as it exploded moments after the second stage jettisoned away for the remaining flight.

After the Starship's first and second stage separation, 12 out of the 13 center core engines on the Super Heavy successfully re-ignited. However,