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South China Morning Post
9 hours ago
- Science
- South China Morning Post
SpaceX Starship explodes during routine pre-launch ground test
For more on this story: A huge blast enveloped a SpaceX Starship as it stood upright on a test stand, sending massive plumes of flames and smoke mushrooming into the night sky. The June 18, 2025, incident shook windows and rattled dishes, according to local media reports. The rocket appeared to be undergoing a 'static fire test' of its engines, a routine pre-launch procedure in which a rocket's engines are fired while the rocket remains securely held down on the ground. The rehearsal for an actual launch allows engineers to test rocket systems before they head into space. The incident adds to a series of prior setbacks and launch failures that have dampened Elon Musk's space ambitions, which include missions to Mars.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Musk On Starship Blast: 'Just a Scratch'
A dramatic explosion rocked SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, late Wednesday night. The company's newest Starship prototype erupted in flames during a 'static fire' test. No injuries were reported. According to a statement posted by SpaceX on social media, the company confirmed that the rocket, known as Ship 36 and designated for the highly anticipated tenth Starship test flight, suffered a 'major anomaly' while still secured on the test stand around 11 p.m. local time. 'A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for. Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials. There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities,' SpaceX continued. The explosion, captured live on several webcams run by various enthusiasts, including a clear video post by X user 'ai_for_success', was shared across social media, eliciting a spectrum of reactions ranging from concern and questions to sheer awe. Another clip shared by the Cameron County Constable Precinct 1 Office showed thick smoke billowing from the Texas test site as startled observers reacted in real time. Starship is, or was, SpaceX's next-generation heavy-lift rocket system — a crucial part of Elon Musk's plans for long-range space missions, including potential crewed flights to the Moon and Mars. Wednesday's explosion marks another setback in the Starship development timeline, though SpaceX has consistently emphasized a test-heavy, fail-forward approach. CEO Elon Musk appeared unfazed by the starships' explosion, taking to X early Thursday morning to post a brief comment: 'Just a scratch.' Explosive test failures have long been part of the company's development plan and have eventually produced historic successes like the Falcon 9 reusable rockets, as previously covered by DX. With its huge modern stainless-steel frame and ability to carry humans and cargo beyond Earth's orbit, SpaceX and its Starship launches remain a leader of America's private-sector space exploration, even if the journey includes some fiery missteps. The missteps themselves, even explosive launches, can offer crucial failure data or other extreme testing limits to Musk and his team. Therefore, they are not a failure but more of a research run. SpaceX has yet to confirm the extent of the damage to the test site and launchpad or when launch operations will resume as of Thursday afternoon.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Mega rocket explodes in Texas night sky, marks series of SpaceX setbacks
In what the company called "a major anomaly" SpaceX's Starship exploded late Wednesday, June 18, shooting a massive fireball and giant debris into the Texas night sky. The explosion is not the first for SpaceX and comes on the heels of a string of set backs for the 400-foot rocket system this year. The company designs, builds and manufactures advanced rockets with the end goal of enabling people to live on other planets. The blast took place about 11 p.m. local time during testing for the mega rocket in Brownsville, a city in Cameron County on the state's southwest Gulf Coast, SpaceX announced on X. Starship, "experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand," the post reads. "Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials." The company, founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, reported no injuries in the blast but asked people to avoid the area as a precaution. "There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities," the post continues. USA TODAY has reached out to SpaceX for more information. The official cause of the blast remained under investigation on June 19, 2025. 'Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure,' Musk said in a post on X, referencing a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (a nitrogen gas storage unit). 'If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design." Just one day earlier, on June 17, Musk's company posted video on X of a "single-engine static fire demonstrating an in-space burn" as Starship prepared for its 10th flight test. Video captured of the incident shows the rocket appeared to experience least two explosions in quick succession. As Iran supreme leader warns America: Trump teases possible US strike The last Starship explosion took place May 27, 2025, on its ninth flight when a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" occurred about an hour after blasting off. The vehicle successfully launched but contact with it was lost about 46 minutes into the flight as it spun out of control about halfway and then came apart. Its debris dropped into the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said. Flight tests also unexpectedly exploded in January and March 2025. During those incidents, vehicles used in the tests met their demise in dramatic explosions that sent cascades of fiery debris across the sky in Florida and across the Caribbean. The upper stage, the vehicle where astronauts and cargo would ride, separated minutes into its flight during the ascent. During three tests between June and November 2024, Starship flew halfway around the world before reentering Earth's atmosphere and landing safely as planned in the Indian Ocean. Bezos vs. Musk? How Amazon's Kuiper satellites look to compete with SpaceX, Starlink Musk's space exploration company is working for Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to earth for additional missions. In the end, the goal is for Starship to carry cargo and humans far into the cosmos. Musk plans for Starship to reach Mars by the end of 2026, with hopes human expeditions aboard the vehicle would follow in the years after the first uncrewed spacecraft reaches the Red Planet. Contributing: Cheryl McCloud and Reuters Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@ and follow her on X @nataliealund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback to Elon Musk's Mars mission
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX's Starship explodes on Texas launch pad in 'catastrophic failure' during routine test
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. SpaceX's Starship has exploded once again — adding to a growing list of setbacks for the company's rocket. The upper stage of the rocket, the largest ever built, was undergoing routine testing to prepare for its 10th test flight at SpaceX's South Texas Starbase site on Wednesday night (June 18) when it "suffered a catastrophic failure and exploded," local authorities wrote on Facebook. The gigantic fireball adds to a string of recent headaches for the rocket's upper stages. The ship exploded mid-flight during two previous test flights in January and March, and fell to pieces during an earlier-than-planned reentry in May. In a post on X, SpaceX has attributed the latest explosion to "a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase," yet the exact cause of the malfunction is unclear. "A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for," SpaceX added in the post. "Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials. There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing [sic] operations continue." Starship is key to SpaceX majority shareholder Elon Musk's ambitions to transport spacecraft, crew members, satellites and cargo into orbit around Earth and to the moon and Mars. Related: 'Catastrophic' SpaceX Starship explosion tore a hole in the atmosphere last year in 1st-of-its-kind event, Russian scientists reveal Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall and propelled by a record-breaking 16.5 million pounds (7.5 million kilograms) of thrust from its 33-engine Super Heavy booster rocket, Starship can carry 10 times the payload of SpaceX's current Falcon 9 rockets. Designed primarily with affordable and efficient manufacturing in mind, the gargantuan rocket uses inexpensive stainless steel for its construction and methane — which SpaceX claims can be collected on Mars — to power the rocket. RELATED STORIES —New NASA robot with X-ray vision will watch Earth 'breathing' from the moon —NASA and Japan launch world's 1st wooden satellite into orbit. Here's why it could help solve a huge problem for our planet. —James Webb Space Telescope quiz: How well do you know the world's most powerful telescope? These early failures are unlikely to deter SpaceX from further developing the rocket. Musk announced in March that he expects the ship to carry Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots to Mars by the end of 2026, and the rocket is also set to carry some of the Starlab private space station into orbit once the International Space Station retires after 2030. SpaceX has also won around $4 billion in NASA contracts to develop the Human Landing System (HLS). This is a lunar lander variant of the spacecraft, and has been selected by NASA to carry American astronauts to the moon aboard the 2027 Artemis III mission — the first time humans will have walked on the moon in more than 50 years. The impact of yesterday's explosion on SpaceX's launch date for Starship's 10th flight is unclear. Currently, the company is investigating what happened to cause Flight 9's failed reentry alongside the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX Starship explodes on Texas launch site
SpaceX's Starship exploded Wednesday night during a test at SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Around 11 p.m. local time Wednesday, "the Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase," SpaceX said in a post on X. "A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for," the company said. "Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials. There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue The rocket's explosion was caught on camera by several livestreams of Starbase. White House Reviewing Spacex Contracts As Trump-musk Spat Loses Steam: Report Cameron County Constable Precinct 1 shared a NASASpaceflight stream on his Facebook page. Read On The Fox Business App "Whoa! Whoa! No," a man can be heard saying once the explosion happened. "Oh, my God." The caption at the bottom of the stream read: "SpaceX is expected to perform a static fire test of ship 36. The second in this series of testing for flight 10." How Much Have Musk's Tesla And Spacex Benefited From Government Funds? Click Here To Read More On Fox Business SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appeared to shrug off the incident in a post on X Thursday morning. "Just a scratch," he article source: SpaceX Starship explodes on Texas launch site
