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Greg Evans
Apr 20, 2023
Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship explodes shortly after launch
content.jwplatform.com
Starship, the most powerful space rocket ever developed, built by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX, has successfully launched.
The 120-metre-tall vehicle lifted off from SpaceX Starbase in the US state of Texas.
The test flight will last 1.5 hours, and although designed to be reusable and land on solid ground, the vehicle will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Although the rocket successfully launched and made it into the air, the booster rocket, Super Heavy, appeared to have failed to separate.
This saw the launch end in an explosion high in the atmosphere.
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SpaceX said Starship experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation”.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX congratulated his team "on an exciting test launch of Starship" adding that they "learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."
Although the launch captured the imagination of a lot of people the use of the phrase "rapid unscheduled disassembly" soon started trending with people amused at this polite way of describing an explosion.
\u201cAlthough twelve points clear in January, Newcastle United experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before Manchester United claimed their third Premiership title.\u201d— Jonny Sharples (@Jonny Sharples) 1682000596
\u201c\u2018It didn\u2019t blow up, it was a rapid unscheduled disassembly\u2019\u201d— Toby Earle \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Toby Earle \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1682001273
\u201cIs Twitter also undergoing \u201ca rapid unscheduled disassembly\u201d?\u201d— George Conway\ud83c\udf3b (@George Conway\ud83c\udf3b) 1681999996
\u201cRapid Unscheduled Disassembly\u201d— Maximum Effort (@Maximum Effort) 1682000310
\u201c\u201cWell, folks, today is 4/20. Did you see this, Ed? 4/20. Cannabis Christmas. The Day of the Dank. May your icky be sticky and your bush be righteous. SpaceX is celebrating today with a new strain - it gets you briefly high and then you experience a rapid unscheduled disassembly\u201d\u201d— Jamison Webb (@Jamison Webb) 1682000383
\u201cWill Dominic Raab\u2019s career experience rapid unscheduled disassembly?\u201d— John Rentoul (@John Rentoul) 1681999898
\u201cSorry I can\u2019t make it tonight I\u2019m experiencing a rapid unscheduled disassembly.\u201d— Richard Hall (@Richard Hall) 1681999372
\u201c\u2018Alderaan has experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly\u2019\u201d— Toby Earle \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Toby Earle \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1682001426
\u201cWe're pretty good with synonyms, but "rapid unscheduled disassembly" is a new one, even for us.\u201d— Dictionary.com (@Dictionary.com) 1681999984
\u201c"Rapid unscheduled disassembly" is how, in future, I will describe nights when I got too drunk and it all went a bit wrong.\u201d— Caitlin Moran (@Caitlin Moran) 1681999767
\u201cHave decided my tanks have not been getting destroyed. Instead they have "rapid unscheduled disassembly".\n\nI remain a master strategist.\u201d— Darth Putin (@Darth Putin) 1682000454
\u201crapid unscheduled disassembly is also how i would describe my love life\u201d— Duolingo (@Duolingo) 1682001254
\u201c"More from Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly later in the show, here's Nitzer Ebb."\u201d— Andrew Mueller (@Andrew Mueller) 1681999157
Additional reporting from PA.
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