SpaceX Blames Starship Flight 8 Mishap On Engine Hardware Failure
More details: Visit websiteWASHINGTON — The failure of SpaceX's Starship on its most recent test flight had a different root cause than the previous failure, despite happening at about the same time.
SpaceX released details May 23 about the cause of the Flight 8 mishap that took place March 6, when several Raptor engines on the Starship upper stage shut down and the vehicle started to tumble . The vehicle reentered, breaking up over the Caribbean.
"While the failure manifested at a similar point in the flight timeline as Starship's seventh flight test, it is worth noting that the failures are distinctly different," the company stated.
The company said it made changes to the Raptors in the Starship upper stage, with "additional preload" on key joints and a new nitrogen purge system as well as improvements to the propellant drain system. A future version of Raptor in development will also have reliability improvements to address the problem seen on Flight 8.
The SpaceX statement about Flight 8 came a day after the Federal Aviation Administration provided its final approval for the next Starship test flight, Flight 9 , which SpaceX confirmed is scheduled for no earlier than May 27 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
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