Starship was supposed to blast 150 miles into the atmosphere

[GoldfishLord]

Starship was supposed to blast 150 miles into the atmosphere, before cruising for around an hour and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/busines...sk/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_youtube_youtube-community

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Should "blast" be "blast off"?

 

[Barque]

No, "blast off" usually refers to the launch from Earth.

See this:
The plan for the integrated test flight was for the Super Heavy booster to separate from Starship after launch and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico. They failed to separate however ...

Had separation occurred, Starship, which has six engines of its own, was to continue to an altitude of nearly 150 miles, completing a near-circle of the Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean ...

SpaceX Starship, world's biggest rocket, explodes during first flight test

SpaceX and Elon Musk declared the test flight a success, with learning points for Starship's next test launch "in a few months".

www.channelnewsasia.com

It appears "blast" in the sentence you quoted refers to going up to the originally scheduled point (150 miles high) that Starship was supposed to reach.* But it exploded well before that.

*Edited.

 

[GoldfishLord]

Does "was supposed to blast" mean "must blow up"?

 

[Barque]

No. "Was supposed to" means "was intended/scheduled to".
"Blast" in that sentence means "to go up (forcefully)".

It was intended to go up 150 miles.

I've edited my last post (the second sentence from the end) to correct a mistake by the way.

 

[Tarheel]

@GoldfishLord No. It wasn't supposed to blow up. When they say it was supposed to blast 150 miles into the atmosphere that means it was supposed to reach that altitude.

[Cross posted.]

 

[GoldfishLord]

It seems that "blast" doesn't have a meaning of "reach, go up".
How could "blast" mean "reach, go up"?

 

[Barque]

If you're saying this because you consulted a dictionary, remember dictionaries don't explain every possible nuance.

To blast 150 miles into the atmosphere = To go forcefully 150 miles up into the atmosphere.

You can take it as a variation of "blast off" if that makes it easier for you to understand.

A blast is usually an explosion. Rockets go up explosively.

Don't analyse sentences word by word. Try to understand the overall meaning.

 

[Tarheel]

@GoldfishLord Three things: context, context, context.