How much did it cost to make Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship rocket as it explodes after launch?

Elon Musk has been working on the SpaceX project for over a decade with plans starting to come together in 2019

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Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on 25 August 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas (Photo: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on 25 August 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas (Photo: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)
Elon Musk during a T-Mobile and SpaceX joint event on 25 August 2022 in Boca Chica Beach, Texas (Photo: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images)

After over a decade of working on the SpaceX project, Elon Musk’s Starship rocket finally took flight, but only lasted four minutes after leaving the ground before exploding.

The Tesla CEO stated that he had founded SpaceX in 2002 to help humanity colonise Mars before working on the rockets to help make the jump including a 100-person spaceship named the Starship.

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After numerous tests and changes to the spaceship’s design including the transition from carbon fibre to stainless steel in 2019, the Starship was finally given the go ahead for blast off this week.

An estimated $2-$3 billion has been put into the project, as Elon Musk previously explained to CNN Business that the budget was towards the lower end of a $2 - $10 billion predicted development cost, however the price tag may have risen after today's events.

With a bill that large, all fingers were crossed for the initial take-off attempt, however it was abandoned on Monday 40 seconds before launch as a ‘pressurisation’ problem was discovered. The second try was no more successful than the first.

The largest and most powerful spaceship standing at 120 metres took off at 2.33pm UK time, gathered speed but started to spin at altitude before exploding at 2:37pm as two sections of the rocket system could not separate after take off.

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