Elon Musk Celebrates After Space Launch, Even After Rocket Explodes During Landing

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk celebrated on Wednesday after the launch of a new rocket design traveled eight miles into the sky.

This, in spite of the fact that the rocket exploded into a massive fireball during its landing. The video of which has since gone viral.

As The Daily Wire reports:

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk lauded the launch of unmanned rocket prototype Starship SN8 after it traveled nearly eight miles into the sky and returned to a landing pad before exploding.

Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2020

Last month, Musk suggested SN8 had a one in three chance of landing successfully, but downplayed the importance of it happening, explaining that there would also be SN9 and SN10 tests. As The Daily Wire previously reported, “SN3 collapsed during pressure testing in April, then SN4 exploded during a static fire test the following month. SpaceX engineers learned from each setback, modifying designs and changing some materials.”

The rocket itself is about 165 feet tall, and CNBC reports that previous prototypes have only been sent 500 feet in the air — roughly a tenth the altitude of SN8 on Wednesday. Musk has previously said he wants to send the first unmanned SpaceX mission to Mars in 2024, during the launch window that occurs every 26 months.

https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1336806274223271937

AU Staff