"We do appear to have lost all the data from the
vehicle," SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said in a webcast video of the
rocket's flight test. "We're going to have to find out from the team what
happened."
The webcast view was obscured by fog, making it difficult to
see the vehicle's landing. Debris from the spacecraft was found scattered five
miles (eight km) away from its landing site.
A first orbital Starship flight is planned for year's end.
Musk, who also heads the electric carmaker Tesla, has said he intends to fly
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa around the moon in the Starship in 2023.
Starships SN8 and SN9 previously exploded upon landing
during their test runs. SN10 achieved an upright landing earlier this month,
but then went up in flames about eight minutes after touchdown.
"Looks like engine 2 had issues on ascent & didn't
reach operating chamber pressure during landing burn, but, in theory, it wasn't
needed," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, after SN11's test flight.
"Something significant happened shortly after landing burn start. Should
know what it was once we can examine the bits later today."
© Reuters
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