Watch: SpaceX Starship explodes during test in Texas. What's next for Elon Musk's company?
SpaceX's massive Starship exploded in a spectacular fiery blaze during an engine test in Texas, raising questions about what's next for Elon Musk's spaceflight company. This time, the explosion was not a result of a launch, but a routine test to prepare the rocket for what would have been its 10th flight since 2023.
The dramatic failure marked the latest setback for Elon Musk's spaceflight company, founded in 2002, as Starship continues to face challenges. The rocket has struggled to replicate earlier mission successes, with all three of its 2025 test flights ending in failure.
The spacecraft, standing nearly 400 feet tall when fully stacked, did not injure or endanger anyone when it exploded in a fireball that could be seen for miles, SpaceX said.
Musk, whose public rift with President Donald Trump recently cast into doubt the future of the U.S. spaceflight program, appeared to initially make light of the mishap – saying "Just a scratch" in a post on social media site X, which he also owns.
More: Elon Musk hits back after Trump threatens contracts. SpaceX's government ties, explained
The explosion occurred around 11 p.m. local time Wednesday, June 18, while SpaceX was preparing for Starship's upcoming flight test, known as Flight 10, from Starbase – the company town in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Starship spacecraft was standing alone on the test stand prior to being mounted on top of the booster when it blew up.
In this case, the Starship vehicle had already undergone a single-engine fire earlier in the week and SpaceX was preparing to test all six when the explosion occurred.
The mishap, which SpaceX later referred to on its website as "a sudden energetic event," completely destroyed the spacecraft and ignited several fires that caused damage in the area surrounding the test stand.
While SpaceX is investigating the mishap, Musk said in a post on X that preliminary data suggest a pressurized tank failed at the top of the rocket.
The company attributed it to a "major anomaly,' and said all personnel were safe.
SpaceX's latest Starship launch marked a failure, following two earlier explosions this year and marking the ninth test flight overall.
From launch to loss of the ship, high-quality footage was sent to the live coverage via Starlink. The world watched as, once again, the massive launch system failed to go as planned. The May 27 flight was aimed at testing much more than what transpired. While the ship coasted this time for close to 40 minutes and made it to the planned area of reentry, it ended up in a spin, which caused it to break apart over the Indian Ocean.
Of the eight previous flights, outcomes were evenly split between successes and failures, making Tuesday's mission, which ended in another explosion, a continued challenge in the company's quest for orbital launch reliability.
Starship's first two flight tests of 2025 – on Jan. 16 and again on March 6 – ended in dramatic explosions that sent cascades of fiery debris streaking across the sky. In both mishaps, the upper stage, the vehicle where astronauts and cargo would ride, came apart mere minutes into its flight instead of landing as planned in the Indian Ocean.
In the Flight 9 test mission, SpaceX made modifications to the 400-foot vehicle as the company continues to develop Starship for future expeditions to the moon and Mars.
For the first time, SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster rocket that had previously flown. The booster was first used during Starship's seventh test flight in January, which ended in failure. While some components were new, including a replaced heat shield, most of the hardware was reused, or what SpaceX calls "flight-proven," including 29 of its 33 Raptor engines.
All of SpaceX's Texas operations — including the explosion during Wednesday's engine test — take place at the company's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, a beachside community near Brownsville. The site sits along the Gulf of America, about 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Although Starbase is closed to the public during launches, a nearby location has become a favorite among Texans and space enthusiasts hoping to catch a glimpse of Starship in action.
Isla Blanca Park, 33174 State Park Road 100, is located on the southernmost tip of South Padre Island. With more than a mile of beaches, the park reliably attracts sizable crowds anytime Starship is due for its latest flight test.
More: Where is Starbase, Texas? Elon Musk's SpaceX headquarters voted to become a city
But Starship still has a long way to go in its development before it's ready to take humans to the moon or Mars.
It does not appear as if the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct an investigation into the latest explosion since "the activity and anomaly were not associated with licensed activity," the agency said Friday, June 20, in an email to the USA TODAY Network.
But in addition to simply being able to fly safely – in other words, without exploding – Starship also needs to be capable of refueling in orbit. The maneuver would be an especially difficult one that's never before been accomplished.
SpaceX is planning to increase the number of Starship launches after receiving key regulatory approval to conduct 25 flight tests a year. Just four Starship test missions were conducted in 2024.
Following the latest Starship launch in late-May, Musk had previously said the next three test flights would occur in quicker succession, with a Starship launch taking place every three to four weeks.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: SpaceX Starship explodes in latest test. See video from Texas
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