SpaceX has concluded its Webcast. The liftoff and flight of the Super Heavy booster appeared to be completely normal, with no engines out during the ascent. The hot staging and separation of the Starship upper stage occurred on time and looked normal, and the booster began its flip maneuver as the Starship continued to accelerate. A few seconds later, the Super Heavy exploded—there is no indication so far whether this was spontaneous or triggered by the flight termination system. This did not affect the Starship’s ascent.
The Starship continued upward with all six engines running and reports of nominal trajectory. The ascent continued beyond the Kármán line at 100 km up to the 148 km intended altitude, then continued to accelerate horizontally. During the last portion of the burn, the tracking camera showed what appeared to be a plume of gas coming from the Starship. This continued for some time while the telemetry showed the ship continuing to accelerate. Then, telemetry showed engine cutoff, but before the planned time. After that, telemetry was lost, and some time after than, the SpaceX commentators said it appeared the flight termination system had destroyed the ship.
There appears, from first glance, no obvious damage to the launch site.
Everyday Astronaut will be running replays of the launch from different views on their Webcast for some time.
