UPDATING LIVE | What’s happened with the Starship launch aftermath? And what’s next?

The ground-breaking Starship prototype, after a majestic, and eventful, launch, was detonated after losing thrust control and failing to make it to stage separation on its first test flight, reaching 39km altitude regardless. Hugely successful as a test of the booster. But what’s the latest thinking on the causes of the engine, pad and other mishaps?

Keep returning here once a day, and I’ll update as we go with clearly marked UPDATE sections . .

UPDATE COUNT: 25 (+1)

Updates now appear in-line here at the top to make everything easier to track now.

Mon, 8th May (UPDATE 25)

• The water-cooled thick deflector plate PARTS are visible in Lab Padre’s drone footage (see the plates with ‘shower head’ holes). I love how this looks like a plastic aero kit layout.

• The launch site is looking pretty neat (Lab Padre)