Video: SpaceX Starship explodes in Texas
SpaceX's Starship 36 experienced a 'catastrophic failure' and exploded Wednesday night during a 'routine' test at SpaceX's Starbase, which is located in Boca Chica, Texas.
In a Thursday morning statement on X, formerly Twitter, SpaceX explained that the Starship 36 experienced a 'major anomaly' at roughly 11 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday as the spacecraft was preparing for its 10th flight test.
Wednesday's explosion was featured on a Starbase livestream of the spacecraft's 10th flight test on YouTube. Sharing a video of the explosion in a post on social media, NASA Spaceflight wrote, 'ANOMALY! Just before Ship 36 was set to Static Fire, it blew up at SpaceX Masseys!'
ANOMALY! Just before Ship 36 was set to Static Fire, it blew up at SpaceX Masseys!
Live on X and YT:https://t.co/GPjZIX1Zyd pic.twitter.com/CfZhDeSGae — NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) June 19, 2025
In SpaceX's statement on social media, the company said it maintained a 'safety clear area' around the launch site throughout Wednesday's operation. SpaceX also confirmed that all of the company's personnel were '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,' SpaceX stated. '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.'
READ MORE: Videos: Stranded astronauts to return to Earth after SpaceX crew arrives at ISS
Local law enforcement officials also addressed the Starship 36 explosion. In a post on Facebook, the Cameron County Constable Precinct 1 wrote, 'At approximately 11:01:54 PM, during a routine static fire test at Starbase, Texas, SpaceX's Starship 36 suffered a catastrophic failure and exploded.'
The Cameron County Constable Precinct 1 noted that as of early Thursday morning, no injuries had been reported and that emergency protocols were quickly implemented following the explosion. The Cameron County Constable Precinct 1 confirmed that an investigation was being launched to determine the cause of Wednesday's anomaly that led to the explosion.
Commenting on Wednesday's Space Starship 36 explosion in a Thursday morning post, Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO and the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, tweeted, 'Just a scratch.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
40 minutes ago
- CNN
FDA approves twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV
FDA approves twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV A drug already used to treat HIV has now been given FDA approval to prevent new infections, and the drugmaker says it is remarkably effective. 01:20 - Source: CNN Vertical Top News 14 videos FDA approves twice-a-year shot to prevent HIV A drug already used to treat HIV has now been given FDA approval to prevent new infections, and the drugmaker says it is remarkably effective. 01:20 - Source: CNN Iranian missile strikes major Israeli medical center CNN's International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson, reports from Beer Sheva, Israel, where a hospital was struck during an Iranian attack. Iran said it was targeting an Israeli intelligence and command center 'near a hospital.' There have been no reported deaths from the strike. 01:04 - Source: CNN Israel's defense minister: Khamenei cannot 'continue to exist' Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cannot be allowed to 'continue to exist,' after an Israeli hospital was struck by an Iranian missile on Thursday. 00:13 - Source: CNN SpaceX Starship rocket explodes An explosion occurred late Wednesday night at SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. A Starship rocket preparing for its tenth flight test experienced a 'major anomaly,' SpaceX says. There were no injuries and all employees are accounted for, according to SpaceX. The cause of the explosion and the extent of any damage are unclear. CNN has reached out to local police and fire departments for more information. 00:35 - Source: CNN Sole survivor of Air India crash mourns brother Vishwash Kumar Ramesh is the only survivor among 242 on board an Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12. On Wednesday Ramesh attended the funeral for his brother, who died in the tragedy. 00:30 - Source: CNN Hear former President Obama's warning about direction of the US Former President Barack Obama warned that the United States is 'dangerously close' to becoming 'consistent with autocracies' during a civic group event in Connecticut. 00:56 - Source: CNN Anne Burrell dead at 55 Anne Burrell, a chef and television personality whose joyful demeanor made her a beloved fixture on the Food Network, has died, according to the network. She was 55. 00:38 - Source: CNN NYC mayoral candidate arrested at immigration court New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was released from federal custody Tuesday afternoon, hours after he was arrested by officers at an immigration court in Manhattan when he tried to escort a migrant whom officers were attempting to arrest. 01:48 - Source: CNN Trump's new phone looks a lot like one from China The Trump Organization says its upcoming T1 smartphone will be 'proudly designed and built in the United States.' But experts tell CNN they're skeptical that goal can be achieved-- and say the T1's specifications are strikingly similar to a Chinese-made phone already on the market. 01:07 - Source: CNN This is how the US could get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports on how the US could get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran while the countries continue trading strikes for a sixth day, with civilians in flashpoint areas facing waves of attacks. 02:14 - Source: CNN Trump's sons announce mobile phone company Trump Mobile, a wireless service created by the Trump Organization, aims to rival US carrier companies like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The Trump Organization, run by President Donald Trump's eldest sons Eric and Donald Jr., announced the business and launched a new gold smartphone for pre-order. 01:09 - Source: CNN What Iranian residents are texting to CNN as strikes hit As Israeli strikes zeroed in on Iran's capital city of Tehran, CNN's Clarissa Ward reports from Tel Aviv some of the messages she's received from residents in Iran offering a glimpse into the daily anxieties of living in a country faced with an ever-escalating conflict in the sky. 01:33 - Source: CNN Minnesota suspect went to 4 state lawmaker homes night of shootings The suspect in the killing of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband in addition to the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife also visited two more politicians' homes, according to authorities. 02:08 - Source: CNN Trump slams G7 for kicking out Russia President Donald Trump kicked off his visit to the G7 summit in Canada by criticizing nations for kicking out Russia eleven years ago. 00:36 - Source: CNN
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
SpaceX's Starship explodes on test stand in yet another setback
A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded on a test stand in Texas, adding to a series of setbacks to Elon Musk's space ambitions that include trips to Mars. The huge blast enveloped the craft as it stood upright on a test stand, before massive plumes of flames and smoke mushroomed into the night sky, video footage of the incident late Wednesday showed. The incident shook windows and rattled dishes, according to local media reports. The rocket appeared to be undergoing a routine 'static fire test' of its engines. A static fire test is a pre-launch procedure in which a rocket's engines are fired while the rocket remains securely held down on the ground — essentially a rehearsal for the real launch, allowing engineers to test the rocket's systems without actually sending it into space. Musk said on X that a specialized bottle that holds nitrogen likely failed. 'If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design,' he said. No one was injured and local residents aren't at risk, the company said, calling the incident 'a major anomaly' as the rocket program prepared for its 10th flight test. The apparent destruction of the rocket extends the string of mishaps for a spaceship program that's central to NASA's plans to put American boots back on the moon — and also to Musk's grander ambitions to send cargo and people to Mars. The incident comes at a moment when Musk's business empire is faces falling demand for Tesla Inc.'s electric vehicles, and after Musk engaged in a public feud with President Donald Trump. Musk's company holds contracts with NASA worth around $4 billion to land the agency's astronauts on the moon using Starship, the world's largest and most powerful launch system. SpaceX has experienced Starship mishaps during ground testing before. The earliest Starship prototypes either collapsed or exploded during propellant tests on the ground, well before the company began conducting routine test flights with the vehicle. However, Wednesday's explosion marked the first Starship failure in years during a ground test. The company has also suffered explosive events ahead of static fire testing before. In 2016, one of the company's Falcon 9 rockets exploded as it was being loaded with propellant, a rare failure for a rocket that now boasts a more than 99% mission success rate. SpaceX is rapidly building and testing new Starship prototypes at its Starbase test site in South Texas, meaning the company can probably slot in another craft relatively soon for the next mission. SpaceX also follows a test flight regimen that entails pushing vehicles until they break to learn how they can fail, lessening the loss of any one vehicle. However, it's another failure after a string of in-flight setbacks, making it unclear when SpaceX will start achieving many of the milestones it needs to meet to unlock the promises Musk has made for Starship's future. Last month, SpaceX's colossal Starship disintegrated mid-flight after spinning out of control. That loss was its third consecutive setback after flights in January and March were cut short just minutes after takeoff when the spacecraft exploded over the Gulf of Mexico, sending debris raining down from the sky and disrupting air travel. January's explosion was caused by a propellant leak while the March failure was triggered by a hardware problem with one of Starship's Raptor engines, according to SpaceX. Starship 10 hadn't been assigned an official launch date, and it's now unclear when the next flight will take place. Following the failure of the ninth launch, SpaceX said it would carry out a data review and make improvements to the rocket system before the next test. Aside from the failures, SpaceX celebrated some key achievements last year when Starship's booster was first caught at the launchpad using large mechanical arms, referred to as 'chopsticks.' Designed to be reusable, Starship is meant to serve as the primary spacecraft for carrying humans to Mars and then bringing them back to Earth. Musk has said he plans to send a Starship rocket to the Red Planet carrying robots built by Tesla as early as 2026. As the world's richest person steps back from his political work in Washington to refocus on his business empire, it remains unclear how much time he'll spend on Starship and SpaceX, and what changes he'll make inside the company to get the program back on track.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
A SpaceX rocket exploded in the night. Are Musk's 2026 Mars ambitions further out of reach?
(CNN) — The explosion of a SpaceX Starship vehicle during a routine ground test Wednesday sent out a shock wave of fire and smoke that appeared to engulf the company's launch facilities in Starbase, Texas. The mishap raised questions about the company's ability to hash out significant design and engineering challenges on a vehicle considered crucial to SpaceX's founding goal of eventually carrying convoys of people to Mars. When SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spoke to employees in South Texas in late May, aiming to once again stoke support for his Mars ambitions, he emphasized the metric by which he would gauge success: 'Progress is measured by the timeline to establishing a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.' Later in his speech — which Musk gave two days after the company's most recently launched Starship prototype failed upon reentry, marking the third premature ending for a test flight this year — he spelled out the exact timeline SpaceX would chase. The road map hinges on specific deadlines dictated by the laws of physics, thanks to just how far Earth is from the red planet. The distance between Earth and Mars can range from about 35 million miles to 250 million miles (56 million kilometers to 400 million kilometers), depending on where each planet lies in its orbital path around the sun. To save time and fuel costs, missions aiming to visit the red planet must wait until it's at its ideal point relative to Earth — prime alignment opportunities, otherwise known as a 'Mars transfer windows,' that span a few weeks and occur only about every 26 months. The next window, during which the travel time to Mars is cut down from over a year to just six to nine months, is coming up in late 2026. Musk's road map suggests SpaceX hopes to send up to five uncrewed Starship vehicles loaded with cargo to Mars during that time. But there are several major concerns that SpaceX will need to address before its first cargo ship sets out for the red planet, and Wednesday's explosion — Starship's fourth so far this year — may be evidence of that. Musk spoke to the feasibility of reaching Mars in 2026 during that May speech, saying that he imagined there was only a '50/50 chance' SpaceX could get a Starship spacecraft to Mars next year. Before the 2026 Mars transfer window opens, SpaceX plans to debut another upgraded version of the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket booster — which together make up the most powerful launch system ever constructed. On the new Starship system, both the first-stage booster and upper-stage ship will be slightly larger and together will be able to carry 661,387 pounds (300 metric tons) of propellant. It's a substantial upgrade similar to the one SpaceX debuted earlier this year, Starship Version 2, which added 25% more propellant capacity compared with earlier test flight models. And SpaceX has struggled to get Version 2 to perform as expected: The first two test flights, carried out in January and March, each failed minutes after takeoff, raining debris near populated islands east of Florida. The last test flight in May made it farther into flight, but the Starship spacecraft lost control before reentry, leading to a nail-biting, uncontrolled descent into the Indian Ocean. Related live story SpaceX megarocket gets farther in test than last two flights, but loses control on reentry to Earth And Wednesday's explosion during a routine ground test raises even more concerns about how long it will take SpaceX to fine-tune Starship's design and guarantee it can transport cargo or humans safely. The company hasn't revealed how much of a setback it might be for the vehicle or its launch facilities. Preliminary data suggested the explosion was caused by a gas tank that exploded, Musk said in a social media post. The tank 'failed below its proof pressure,' he said, meaning that prior stress tests and the known properties of the tank suggested it should have survived the scenario. It's potentially a unique problem that has never been observed before. During his May 29 speech, Musk emphasized that introducing even more upgrades and further stretching Starship's size is crucial to long-term success. 'It takes three major iterations of any major new technology to have it really work well,' Musk told employees during his Starship update. Musk has said he hopes the updated Starship will make its flight debut by the end of the year. But even if the new version pulls off a pristine test flight along the same suborbital route where SpaceX has carried out previous Starship test missions, it won't guarantee the vehicle is ready for an interplanetary excursion. That's because, even with added fuel capacity, Starship must be topped off with more propellant after it reaches space to make the long trip to Mars. SpaceX plans to do this by launching a series of tankers, or Starship vehicles designed to carry batches of fuel and oxidizer. Those tankers would rendezvous with the Starship while it idles in Earth's orbit, transferring thousands of pounds of propellant and delivering the fuel the vehicle needs to continue its journey deeper into the solar system. Notably, transferring fuel between two vehicles in space has never been done before. 'We've never done that. Nobody's done that — transferring fuel from one spacecraft to another in orbit autonomously,' said Bruce Jakosky, a professor emeritus of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. 'That's difficult,' Jakosky added, especially considering the Starship vehicle runs on cryogenic fuels — essentially oxygen and methane that are kept at temperatures so cold they liquify. And in the microgravity environment of orbit, that fuel can float about in its tank rather than settling in one place. So, among myriad other technical difficulties, SpaceX will likely have to devise pumps or motors that can effectively funnel the fuel from one ship to another. Currently, it's not even clear how many tankers SpaceX would need to launch to give one Starship vehicle enough gas for a trip to Mars. (In prior estimates, NASA personnel and third-party experts projected it may take roughly one dozen Starship tankers for a moon mission.) In his speech, Musk said that he believed in-space fuel transfer would be 'technically feasible.' SpaceX will not attempt to carry out its first tanker flight test before next year, Musk added. Even after SpaceX sorts out the propellant transfer problem, they'll face another significant technological question: How will Starship survive the trip down to the surface of Mars? Musk last month called this issue 'one of the toughest problems to solve.' 'No one has ever developed a truly reusable orbital heat shield so that is extremely difficult to do,' he said. 'This will be something that we'll be working on for a few years, I think, to keep honing.' Vehicles that need to safely land on planetary bodies while traveling at orbital speeds must have a component called a heat shield — a special coating on the vehicle's exterior that serves as a buffer to the scorching temperatures generated by the process of entering a planet's atmosphere. On Mars, one crucial problem is the air: It's almost entirely made up of carbon dioxide. When Starship slams into Mars' atmosphere, it will violently compress the air in front of it and create searing temperatures. And the conditions of reentry are so intense that the process literally rips electrons away from atoms and splits molecules, turning the carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen — the latter of which may start to 'oxidize' or essentially incinerate the spacecraft's heat shield, Musk said. Reentry on Mars will actually produce more heat-shield-destroying oxygen than the process of returning to Earth, Musk noted. Starship's heat shield will ultimately need to be durable enough to survive both types of reentry, potentially multiple times. While the odds of SpaceX solving all the necessary technical quandaries in time to send a cargo-filled Starship to Mars at the end of next year are likely small, even larger problems must be solved later down the road. If SpaceX wants to send humans to the red planet, for example, the company must figure out how to ensure Starship's exterior can keep people safe from the deadly radiation that will shower down throughout the six-month journey. Life support systems with plenty of breathable air would need to be on board. As Musk put it, every single human need must be accounted for. 'You can't be missing even, like, the equivalent of vitamin C,' he said. Once a Starship vehicle reaches its destination, it would likely need to top off its fuel at a Martian depot before returning home — another feat that presents enormous technological challenges. The idea that enough infrastructure will exist on Mars by 2029 — or 2031, as Musk has said in prior social media posts — to make such a crewed mission possible is outlandish. Still, industry experts say SpaceX's bold ambitions spark both excitement and skepticism. 'I am a fan of what SpaceX is trying to do. I totally subscribe to this vision of a multi-planetary society,' said Olivier de Weck, the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'But it's a logistical problem first and foremost. And what's lacking to me is the thought about the cycling, the fuel production — and the return to Earth.' But Phil Metzger, a planetary physicist with the Florida Space Institute, emphasized that SpaceX does tend to deliver on its promises, even if it's a few years behind schedule. 'I feel like they got unlucky on some of their (Starship test flight failures), having the types of failures they had the last three in a row,' Metzger said. 'Considering their design and development philosophy, I think they're still within the window of expected outcomes.' But, Metzger added, 'we're reaching the point where you start to worry.'
