Anonymous ID: 285f9a April 20, 2023, 10:31 a.m. No.18725064   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>5074 >>5090

SpaceX giant rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

 

 

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s giant new rocket exploded minutes after blasting off on its first test flight Thursday and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship carried no people or satellites.

 

Images showed several of the 33 main engines were not firing as Starship climbed from the launch pad, reaching as high as 24 miles (39 kilometers). There was no immediate word from SpaceX on how many engines failed to ignite or shut down prematurely.

 

The booster was supposed to peel away from the spacecraft three minutes after liftoff, but that didn’t happen. Rather, the rocket with the spacecraft still attached began to tumble and then exploded, plummeting into the gulf.

 

Instead of a best-case-scenario 1 1/2-hour flight with the spacecraft taking a lap around the world, the whole thing lasted four minutes. It reached a maximum speed of about 1,300 mph (2,100 kph).

 

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits. As Starship lifted off with a thunderous roar, the crowd screamed: “Go, baby, go!”

 

Musk, in a tweet, called it “an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”

 

In the weeks leading up to the flight, Musk gave 50-50 odds that the spacecraft would reach orbit and not end up in what SpaceX calls a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” He said not blowing up the launch pad would be a win.

 

https://apnews.com/article/spacex-starship-launch-elon-musk-d9989401e2e07cdfc9753f352e44f6e2?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_03

Anonymous ID: 285f9a April 20, 2023, 10:36 a.m. No.18725102   🗄️.is đź”—kun

Video shows human smuggler attempt to run over Texas state trooper

Troopers continue to engage in dangerous, high-speed pursuits of human and drug smugglers, some with open arrest warrants.

 

warrants, and apprehend mostly single, military-age men who’ve illegally entered the U.S.

 

In one instance, human smugglers during a high-speed chase attempted to run over a Texas State Trooper. The incident was caught on body camera footage.

 

The drivers who have open warrants are the most dangerous, law enforcement officials have explained to The Center Square, because they have the most to lose if they get caught. They are often illegally carrying firearms and in one recent incident, one tried to run over a state trooper, authorities said.

 

Most smugglers are responding to ads on social media to smuggle people from the border to larger cities in Texas, according to DPS. Prices for smuggling vary depending on the location, distance to travel, and number of people in the car, but if caught, result in multiple felony counts.

 

In Kinney County, on April 13, a DPS OLS trooper stopped the driver of a black Volkswagen Passat for a traffic violation on Highway 277, which runs parallel to the Rio Grande River. Upon inspection, he learned the driver had picked up four Mexican nationals, including one minor, who’d entered the country illegally, DPS spokesperson Lt. Chris Olivarez said.

 

The driver, from Houston, responded to a Craigslist ad to smuggle people from the border.

 

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/video-shows-human-smuggler-attempt-run-over-texas-state-trooper

 

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