SpaceX’s maiden test flight of Starship severely damaged the Texas launch site.
The engineers built the largest and most powerful rocket ever, which sent flying bits of concrete.
They expect to take months to repair the damage caused by Thursday’s unmanned test flight, which could delay further launch attempts and slow down the development of a rocket that NASA plans to use on its upcoming Moon missions.
SpaceX boss Elon Musk had said before the test that just getting Starship in the air without destroying its launch pad would be “a win.”
Luckily for Musk, the 390-foot-tall (120-meter) rocket successfully lifted off, climbing for about four minutes until it tumbled and exploded, well over the Gulf of Mexico.
But SpaceX engineers may have underestimated the damage that Starship’s 33 first-stage rocket engines would do.
During takeoff, SpaceX video showed a hail of debris being blasted as far as the Gulf of Mexico, over 1,400 feet (420 meters) away. According to local press reports, a cloud of dust floated over a small town several miles (kilometers) away.
Photos of the launch site show the gigantic launch tower still standing while the rocket mount. This supports Starship before liftoff, damaged but still intact.
Beneath it, however, lies a huge crater, images posted on social media showed.