AUSTIN, Texas — SpaceX’s SN10 made a perfect landing near its launch site, but three minutes after touchdown, the rocket exploded on the landing pad.
The rocket is a prototype of SpaceX’s Starship Mars rocket.
Wednesday’s landing had been considered the first successful landing for the Starship prototype.
“We’ve had a successful soft touch down on the landing pad,” engineer John Insprucker said during the landing’s livestream, CNN reported. “That’s capping a beautiful test flight of Starship 10.”
SN8 and SN9 crashed, BBC News reported.
The livestream cut off shortly after the landing, before the explosion.
There are several other prototype rockets in production, with the SN11 ready to launch “in the near future,” SpaceX officials said, according to CNN.
The Starships could replace SpaceX’s current Falcon rockets, the BBC reported.
The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined.
Despite the explosion, the SN10 was able to do its in-flight maneuvers before landing, the BBC reported.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
