美“星舟”火箭第二次试射发生爆炸

美国太空探索技术公司新一代重型运载火箭“星舟”以及飞船集成系统18日实施第二次试验发射。火箭升空后一二级成功分离，但随后助推器和飞船先后发生爆炸。

SpaceX's giant new rocket Starship on Saturday blasted off on its second test flight but ended prematurely with an explosion minutes after launch.

美国中部时间18日7时许（北京时间21时许），“星舟”从位于美国得克萨斯州博卡奇卡的“星舟”基地升空。直播画面显示，升空后不到3分钟，火箭一二级成功分离，但不久后助推器发生爆炸。据美国太空网站报道，飞船本身也在到达目标高度之前爆炸。

Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster at about 7:04 am Central Time from SpaceX's Starbase in the US state of Texas, according to SpaceX.

Starship made it through a successful stage separation, said SpaceX.

However, the booster experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" after stage separation and boostback burn while Starship's engines fired for several minutes on its way to space, according to SpaceX.

It was the second integrated flight testing with the second launch of Starship.

“星舟”重型运载火箭总高度约120米，直径约9米，由两部分组成，底部是高约70米的第一级“超级重型”助推器，顶部是高约50米的第二级飞船。今年4月20日，“星舟”以及飞船集成系统首次试验发射时，在火箭一二级分离前就发生了爆炸。

图源：视觉中国

据太空探索技术公司网站介绍，“星舟”的首次试飞提供了许多经验教训，直接促进了对火箭和地面基础设施的多次升级。

"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary," SpaceX said.

The company said it will share more information as the team reviews data from Saturday's test.

“星舟”属于可回收火箭，比太空探索技术公司现有的“猎鹰9”和“猎鹰重型”运载火箭更大，其设计目标是将人和货物送至地球轨道、月球和火星等。

The spacecraft was designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

来源：新华社