NASA WANTS STRICT SUPERVISION OVER FLUBBED SPACEX LAUNCHES

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is not amused with successive explosions of SpaceX rockets, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is probing the March 30 incident in which the Starship prototype, SN11, exploded, after a 24-hour launch delay.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has tallied three devastating destructions of its rocket engines, so far, with only one of the reusable rockets succeeding in landing successfully but also exploding minutes later, Amy Thompson of Space.com reported for Live Science.

Musk said something appeared to go wrong with one of SN11's Raptor engines, called engine 2. But that may not be why the rocket crashed. NASA is therefore now requiring that an inspector be on site for all Starship launches, according to the latest launch license issued March 12.

The license states that any test flight can take place "only when an FAA Safety Inspector is present at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch and landing site."

The change is a new policy for this test flight and stems from the fact that SpaceX violated its launch license back in December during the launch of its SN8 prototype. In December, the FAA cautioned that the SN8 flight profile exceeded the maximum allowed risk for the public in the event of an explosion.

That test flight ended in a massive fireball, however, there were no reports of any damage to property outside of SpaceX's test site.

As a result of that explosion, the FAA asked SpaceX to investigate the anomaly, and delayed the flight of its next prototype, SN9.

After a thorough review of the company's operational and decision-making process concerning its Starship program, the FAA gave SpaceX the go-ahead to launch both SN9 and SN10.

Both prototypes suffered the same fate as SN8, however. While SN10 was the first to land intact, it exploded a few minutes after doing so.

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