Elon Musk breaks silence on Starship explosion, says 'we were too dumb'

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has finally broken his silence on the explosion of Starship SN9 on February 2.  Replying to a user on Twitter, Musk admitted that they were “too dumb” to light only two engines for landing. Elaborating further, he said that next time, they’d try the “pull up” method.

Space X’s second full test flight of its starship was launched on February 2 and saw SN9 travelling a few miles up in the air. The vehicle hovered for a moment and then conducted a belly flop-like manoeuvre on the descent before making an explosive landing back in the latch pad. Later reports have claimed that one of its two Raptor engines, failed to reignite before returning to the ground,  which caused SN9 to travel too fast to perform a safe landing.

The question was put by a Twitter user by the name of ‘Madoverlord’. In a tweet to Musk, he asked why only two engines were lit up during landing. “Why not light all 3, do the flip, then pick the best two and turn off the other?” he added. Replying to this Musk wrote, “we were all too dumb”. 

Read: SpaceX's Starship Prototype Rocket Explodes On Landing, FAA To Oversee Investigation

Read: SpaceX's 2nd Starship Test Flight Ends With Another Kaboom

FAA to launch investigation 

As SpaceX’s second full test flight of its futuristic, bullet-shaped Starship ended in another fiery crash landing on February 2, the Federal Aviation Administration said that it will oversee an investigation into the incident. Elon Musk’s company launched its latest Starship prototype from the southeastern tip of Texas two months after the previous test ended in an equally explosive belly flop. The destroyed vehicle, SpaceX’s Starship SN9, was an early prototype for a rocket the company hopes will carry the first humans to the Red planet. 

On Tuesday, the rocket was launched in a high-altitude test flight and it had travelled a few miles up in the air. The vehicle hovered for a moment and then conducted a belly flop-like manoeuvre on the descent before making an explosive landing back in the latch pad. Following the failed launch, the FAA said that its top priority in regulating commercial space transportation is ensuring that operations are safe, even if there is an anomaly. 

Read: Starship SN9 Scrubbed By FAA; Elon Musk Brings SN10 Instead; Read Details

Read: SpaceX's 2nd Starship Test Flight Ends With Another Kaboom

Image source: AP