Why does Starship keep exploding? SpaceX report sheds light on 2 recent mishaps

USA Today

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SpaceX has released the results of its investigations into the destruction of one Starship vehicle during a May 27 flight test, and the explosion of another in June on the ground.
Following a successful year for Starship in 2024, SpaceX has endured a series of relative disappointments for the world's largest rocket in 2025.
Starship's first three test flights of the year, from January through May, all ended with the spacecraft exploding in dramatic fashion while traveling through the air. Those setbacks were followed in June by the fiery destruction of another Starship vehicle as the commercial rocket company founded by billionaire Elon Musk readied it for ground testing at its South Texas facility.
These failures followed on the heels of a year of firsts, when SpaceX launched Starship four times and achieved new milestones each flight. These accomplishments included flying three consecutive times halfway around the world before splashing down as planned in the Indian Ocean, and, in October, the first of three successful returns of the Super Heavy rocket booster to the launch pad.
But what might appear as letdowns are still learning experiences that SpaceX has long insisted can provide data on how to improve a spacecraft that will have a crucial role in the future of U.S. spaceflight. Still, that doesn't mean SpaceX isn't obligated to figure out what went wrong.
"Every lesson learned, through both flight and ground testing, continues to feed directly into designs for the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy," SpaceX said in August on its website in revealing the findings of its investigations into the last two fiery mishaps.
Here's everything to know about SpaceX's report on Starship "flight 9" on May 27 and the June 18 destruction of another upper stage vehicle, as well as how the company is making changes ahead of "flight 10."
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When is the next Starship launch?
SpaceX plans to conduct the 10th flight test of its Starship spacecraft Sunday, Aug. 24, with a target liftoff time of 7:30 p.m. ET.
SpaceX conducts Starship test flights from the company's Starbase headquarters in South Texas, located about 23 miles from Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border. Texas voters in Cameron County approved a measure in May for Starbase to become a city, complete with a mayor and a city council.
What happened when Starship exploded?
Starship's upcoming flight test was previously delayed June 18 when the Starship vehicle SpaceX assigned to the next flight, designated Ship 36, unexpectedly exploded while SpaceX was preparing it for launch. No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred as the Starship spacecraft was standing alone on the test stand being filled with cryogenic propellants for an engine test-firing prior to being mounted on top of the rocket booster.
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.
The explosion was the latest fiery mishap SpaceX's Starship has encountered during – and, now, prior to – its flight tests in 2025.
Starship's most recent demonstration came May 27 when the spacecraft spun out of control roughly halfway through its flight and disintegrated in a fireball. Though Starship was unable to achieve its most important objectives, the distance the vehicle traveled far surpassed the previous 2025 flights in January and March, when Starship exploded within minutes.
Why does Starship keep exploding? SpaceX releases report
SpaceX had previously released findings into the first two Starship explosions in January and March. Now, the company has unveiled the results of investigations for the two most recent mishaps, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches.
The May 27 mission got off to a positive start, with the successful first-ever launch of a rocket booster – known as Super Heavy – that had flown during a previous flight in January. Reusing a booster was an important milestone for SpaceX to demonstrate that the rocket can be flown multiple times.
But rather than making a controlled splashdown as planned, the booster came apart in the air and plummeted into the Gulf of Mexico, which the U.S. government has renamed as the Gulf of America.
SpaceX attributed the crash to a structural failure to the booster's fuel transfer tube, which resulted in methane and liquid oxygen mixing and igniting.
The vehicle's upper stage – known simply as Starship, or Ship – managed to separate from the booster and fire its six Raptor engines to propel itself on a trajectory taking it into suborbital space as it soared around the world. But contact with Starship was lost approximately 46 minutes into the flight as it spun out of control and once again came apart over the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX traced the failure to the main fuel tank pressurization system diffuser, located on the forward dome of Starship's primary methane tank. Other issues with the nosecone prevented Starship from deploying eight test Starlink satellites.
As for the June explosion, SpaceX said it was caused by undetected damage to a high-pressure nitrogen storage tank inside Starship's payload bay section, called a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV.)
In a statement, the FAA said it "oversaw and accepted" SpaceX's findings and gave it the greenlight to proceed with its next Starship launch.
"SpaceX identified corrective actions to prevent a reoccurrence of the event," the FAA said.
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But when it comes to Starship's development, SpaceX has become known for its risk-tolerant philosophy. Musk has stressed that rapid and frequent testing that sometimes leads to explosive ends can still provide data that helps engineers improve the vehicle's design.
SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions.
In the years ahead, Starship is set to serve a pivotal role in future U.S. spaceflight. Starship is the centerpiece of Musk's vision of sending the first humans to Mars, and is also critical in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon's surface.
But the next-generation spacecraft has yet to reach orbit on any of its nine uncrewed flight tests, which began in 2023.
SpaceX received key regulatory approval earlier in 2025 to conduct up to 25 Starship tests a year, after which Musk took to social media in late May to proclaim that the vehicle's next three launches would occur much faster than normal – at a cadence of one "every 3 to 4 weeks."
How big is Starship?
The Starship, standing nearly 400 feet tall when fully stacked, is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
When fully integrated, the launch system is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage Starship itself, the spacecraft where crew and cargo would ride. That size makes Starship large enough to tower over SpaceX's famous 230-foot-tall Falcon 9 – one of the world's most active rockets.
Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines that give the initial burst of thrust at liftoff. The upper stage Starship section is powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [e-mail]