Bystanders cheered as Elon Musk’s supersized, stainless steel SpaceX Starship roared into the sky from Boca Chica Beach, Texas, on April 20.
Almost two minutes later, as the unmanned craft—designed to transport people and cargo to the moon and Mars—disappeared in a fireball, they cheered just as enthusiastically.
Musk had told reporters four days earlier, “If we get far enough away from the launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the launch pad.”
And as the flaming wreckage tumbled into the Gulf of Mexico, an announcer narrating a video of the launch told viewers, “Everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.”…