You're reading: Washington Post: SpaceX Starship lands softly, then explodes

Washington Post: SpaceX Starship lands softly, then explodes

Published March 4, 2021. Updated March 4 at 2:26 pm

This still image taken from a Space X video shows the Starship SN9 exploding on landing as the company conducts a test flight on February 2, 2021, near Boca Chica, Texas. - The SpaceX prototype rocket crash landed and exploded in flames at the conclusion of a test flight on February 2, 2021, footage broadcast by the company showed. It was the second such explosion after the last prototype met a similar fate in December. (Photo by - / SPACEX / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SpaceX" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Photo by AFP

This time the explosion came after the landing.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully landed a prototype of its Starship rocket after flying it to an altitude of just over six miles, a key milestone in the test campaign of the spacecraft it hopes to one-day fly astronauts to the moon and Mars.