SpaceX Starship exploded again. What's next for Elon Musk's company after latest setback?
SpaceX Starship exploded again. What's next for Elon Musk's company after latest setback? This time, the mishap didn't even occur during a launch, but rather during a test to prepare Starship for its 10th overall flight since 2023 from Starbase in South Texas.
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SpaceX's Starship 36 explodes after 'major anomaly'
SpaceX's Starship 36 exploded during a routine static fire test after experiencing a 'major anomaly.'
Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. SpaceX is developing it for human spaceflights to the moon and Mars.
The explosion occurred around 11 p.m. local time June 18, 2025, while SpaceX was preparing for Starship's upcoming flight test, known as Flight 10.
The latest mishap comes as SpaceX is planning to increase the number of Starship launches after receiving key regulatory approval to do so.
SpaceX's massive Starship exploded in a spectacular fiery blaze during a routine engine test in Texas – raising questions about what's next for Elon Musk's spaceflight company.
The dramatic explosion marked the latest setback for SpaceX, which billionaire Musk founded in 2002, after Starship has failed to repeat the successes of previous missions in its first three test flights of 2025. This time, the mishap didn't occur during a launch, but rather during a test to prepare the rocket for its 10th overall flight since 2023.
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 owns.
Here's what to know about the latest Starship explosion, and what could be next for a vehicle critical to both NASA and Musk's plans for human spaceflights in the years ahead.
What is Starship? How big is the rocket?
Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
At more than 400 total feet in height, Starship towers over SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world's most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet.
The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft, or capsule where crew and cargo would ride.
Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines that give the initial burst of thrust at liftoff. The upper section, also called Starship or Ship for short, is the upper stage powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit.
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 intended to carry both cargo and humans to Earth's orbit and deeper into the cosmos.
NASA's lunar exploration plans, which appear to be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, call for Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon's surface.
SpaceX Starship rocket explodes: What happened?
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.
The company attributed it to a "major anomaly,' and said all personnel were safe.
Why did the Starship rocket explode?
SpaceX test-fires the engines on the Starship before it is mated with Super Heavy. 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 suggests that a pressurized tank failed at the top of the rocket.
'If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design,' Musk added.
When does Elon Musk envision launching Starship to Mars?
Musk has aggressively sought for his commercial spaceflight company to develop its Starship spacecraft to fulfill his ambitious dream of sending the first humans to Mars.
In a video SpaceX shared Thursday, May 29, after the most recent Starship test flight, Musk told his employees that he still believes it's feasible to send the first uncrewed Starship to Mars by the end of 2026. Under his vision, human expeditions aboard the Starship could then follow in the years after
What's next for Starship testing?
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 not 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 3 test flights would occur in quicker succession, with a Starship launch taking place every three to four weeks.
How many times has Starship exploded?
The previous three missions have fallen far short of previous Starship flight tests. For three tests between June and November 2024, Starship flew halfway around the world before reentering Earth's atmosphere and splashing down as planned in the Indian Ocean.
In its most recent demonstration May 27, Starship spun out of control roughly halfway through its flight and disintegrated in a fireball before achieving some of its most important objectives. Still, the distance the vehicle traveled far surpassed the previous 2025 flights in January and March, when Starship exploded within minutes.
In both January and March 2025, the vehicles used in the tests instead met their demise in dramatic explosions that sent cascades of fiery debris streaking across the sky in Caribbean countries and Florida – disrupting air traffic.
In both cases, the upper stage, the vehicle where astronauts and cargo would ride, came apart mere minutes into its flight during the ascent.
While both explosions occurred at about the same point in the flight, the causes were 'distinctly different,' SpaceX said in an update May 22. In the latest fiery mishap in March, it wasn't a fire in the attic, but rather a "flash" closer to the bottom section that caused "an energetic event" that led the vehicle to shut down, lose communication and trigger its own self destruction, SpaceX determined.
Contributing: Reuters
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
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