The primary time Anthony Gomez noticed considered one of SpaceX’s Starship prototypes take flight, he watched it on a projector. He was distant from the humid Texas coast, the place the precise launch was happening. As an alternative, he was sitting in his home in Florida along with his girlfriend.
On the wall of his dwelling, Anthony admired the Starship rocket because it careened by means of the sky. All three of the Raptor engines minimize off when the spaceship reached an altitude of roughly 41,000 ft, and the large metal vessel started to plummet again to Earth, pitched over on its facet, trying like a grain silo in free fall. Simply earlier than reaching the touchdown pad, its engines reignited, and the automobile quickly turned upright once more because it ready to the touch down. However the spacecraft got here down too quick, hitting the bottom laborious and bursting aside in a large explosion. Afterward, solely a charred patch of Earth remained the place Starship as soon as stood — a disappointment.