SpaceX deliberately destroys boosters in dramatic test

SpaceX deliberately destroyed a Falcon 9 booster Sunday in a spectacular high-altitude conflagration moments after an unpiloted Crew Dragon astronaut ferry ship shot away in a seemingly "picture-perfect" test of its emergency escape system, a major milestone setting the stage for a piloted test flight this spring.

While the Falcon 9 broke up in a spectacular fireball as expected, the Crew Dragon's eight powerful abort engines quickly pushed the spacecraft away with a sudden burst of acceleration that carried it on a ballistic trajectory to an altitude of about 25 miles. It then arced over, plunged back into the thick lower atmosphere and descended to a relatively gentle parachute-assisted splashdown 20 miles east of Cape Canaveral.

While it will take engineers weeks to sift through stored telemetry and carry out a detailed inspection of the spacecraft, SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk told reporters the test appeared to go well and the company should be ready for a piloted test flight within a few months.

"Overall, as far as we can tell thus far it is a picture-perfect mission, it went as well as one could possibly expect," he said. "I'm super fired up, this is great, really great."

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SpaceX successfully destroys boosters in dramatic emergency escape test