<p>After back-to-back explosions, <a href="https://mid-day.com/news/world-news/article/spacex-launch-site-approved-as-new-us-city-of-starbase-23535271" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">SpaceX</a> launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening, but fell short of the main objectives when the spacecraft tumbled out of control and broke apart.</p>
<p>The 123-metre rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX's launch site at the southern tip of Texas. Residents voted this month to organise as an official city.</p>
<p>CEO Elon Musk's SpaceX hoped to release a series of mock satellites following liftoff, but that got nixed because the door failed to open all the way.</p>
<p>Then the spacecraft began spinning as it skimmed space toward an uncontrolled landing in the Indian Ocean.</p>
<p>SpaceX later confirmed that the spacecraft experienced 'a rapid unscheduled disassembly", or burst apart.</p>
<p>'Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test,' the company said in an online statement.</p>
<p>It was the first time one of Musk's Starships -- intended for moon and <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/india-news/video/nasa-astronauts-sunita-williams-wilmore-and-crew-to-return-home-via-spacdex-capsule-after-9-months-watch-video-1078030" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Mars travel</a> -- flew with a recycled booster. There were no plans to catch the booster with giant chopsticks back at the launch pad unlike earlier tests.</p>
<p>Contact with the booster was lost at one point, and it slammed into the Gulf of Mexico in pieces as the spacecraft continued toward the Indian Ocean.</p>
<p>Then the spacecraft went out of control, apparently due to fuel leaks.</p>
<p>'Not looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today,' SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot said.</p>
<p>The company had been looking to test the spacecraft's heat shield during a controlled reentry.</p>
<p>Communication ceased before the spacecraft came down, and SpaceX ended its webcast soon afterward.</p>
<p>The previous two Starships never made it past the <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/technology/article/why-elon-musk-is-shifting-x-and-spacex-headquarters-from-california-23364697" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Caribbean</a>.</p>
<p>The demos earlier this year ended just minutes after liftoff, raining wreckage into the ocean. No injuries or serious damage were reported, although airline travel was disrupted.</p>
<p>The Federal Aviation Administration last week cleared Starship for another flight, expanding the hazard area and pushing the liftoff outside peak air travel times.</p>
<p>Besides taking corrective action and making upgrades, SpaceX modified the latest spacecraft's thermal tiles and installed special catch fittings.</p>
<p>This one was meant to sink in the <a href="https://www.mid-day.com/news/world-news/article/spacex-launch-site-approved-as-new-us-city-of-starbase-23535271" target="_blank" rel="none noopener">Indian Ocean</a>, but the company wanted to test the add-ons for capturing future versions back at the pad, just like the boosters.</p>
<p>NASA needs SpaceX to make major strides over the next year with Starship -- the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built -- in order to land astronauts back on the moon.</p>
<p>Next year's moonshot with four astronauts will fly around the moon, but will not land. That will happen in 2027 at the earliest and require a Starship to get two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back off again.</p>
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After back-to-back explosions, SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening, but fell short of the main objectives when the spacecraft

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