Despite an explosion, Elon Musk is closer to his new space age

THE FIRST FLIGHT lasted a bit less than four minutes. With 30 of its 33 engines firing, the first of SpaceX’s “Super Heavy” boosters lifted off its launch pad in Boca Chica, on the Texas coast at 13:33 GMT. A minute later it passed through “max Q”, the point at which the stress on the vehicle caused by thrust of the engines and the resistance of the atmosphere peaks. Two minutes in, the rocket had reached an altitude of 20km (12 miles) and was travelling at 1,600kph, even though at least two more of its engines had shut down.

By minute three, though, it was clear that something was wrong. The rest of the engines had not cut off at the appointed time; the rocket seemed to be changing its orientation strangely; the separation of the second stage, a prototype spaceship called Starship, from the Super Heavy was not progressing as intended. As video showed the rocket continuing to tumble, John Insprucker, a SpaceX engineer providing commentary for the company’s live feed, delivered a technical understatement for the ages: “obviously…this does not appear to be a nominal situation”. A few seconds later, with the rocket clearly out of control, its “flight termination system” did what it was meant to and blew it up over the gulf of Mexico.