Henry Min

AP Bio/Current Event 12

2/3/21

Chang, Kenneth. “SpaceX's Prototype Mars Rocket Crashes in Test Flight.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/science/spacex-starship-launch.html. 

In the article, “SpaceX’s Prototype Mars Rocket Crashes in Test Flight”, author Kenneth Chang talks about how SpaceX's prototype mars rocket crashed during a test flight. Throughout the article, Mr. Chang does a great job of outlining the events that took place. On Tuesday, a test flight of SpaceX’s Starship, a huge next-generation spacecraft that Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of the private rocket company, dreams of one day sending to Mars, came to an explosive end. That brief flight, to an altitude of about six miles and then back to a landing pad, appeared to again demonstrate how the mammoth rocket would tip over on its side as it descended in a controlled belly flop back toward a landing. But when the prototype fired its engines to right itself back to a vertical orientation, it appeared that one engine did not properly ignite, and Starship hit the ground at an angle, disintegrating in a fireball, leaving a cloud of smoke rising over the test site, which is in Boca Chica, Tex, near Brownsville. On Tuesday evening, the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates rocket launches, announced that it will oversee an investigation of why the prototype crashed. Last week, SpaceX and government regulators seemed to be in a strange standoff. SpaceX had filled the propellant tanks of this prototype of Starship — its ninth one — and looked ready to launch. But then the rocket stayed on the ground when no approval from the F.A.A. arrived. Late on Monday, the F.A.A. gave permission for Tuesday’s launch, but then revealed that the December launch had occurred without the agency’s approval. SpaceX had requested a waiver to conduct that flight even though it had not shown that a pressure wave that could be generated by an explosion during the test would not pose a danger to the public. The F.A.A. denied the request. SpaceX defied the ruling and launched anyway. Even if Starship had landed perfectly, launching it without approval was a violation of the company’s license. SpaceX was also told to halt testing that could endanger the public until the company made changes that satisfied the agency. The F.A.A. said the resulting changes improved safety and were incorporated into Tuesday’s launch.

Overall, the article does a great job of giving an objective view of what happened before and after the failed test flight. I was able to fully comprehend the problems that were occurring between Elon Musk and SpaceX, and how certain rules were needed to be broken. I believe that this is relevant in today's age as traveling to other planets and possibly inhabiting them is something that humans have theorized and thought about for ages.