For just a few wonderful minutes on Nov. 18, SpaceX’s gargantuan Starship rocket blasted towards the heavens with obvious perfection. Then, roughly eight minutes into the flight, it inexplicably exploded excessive above the Gulf of Mexico.
But for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, it wasn’t a real setback—simply one other hiccup in growth. Sooner or later, Starship appears more likely to safely attain orbital speeds and be deemed prepared for launching payloads and satellite tv for pc swarms into low-Earth orbit. Which means the remainder of the launch trade—already scrambling to compete with SpaceX’s present workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9—may discover itself completely enjoying second fiddle to the boisterous billionaire’s rocket maker.