SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk’s Mars mission
SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded into a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas late on Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks for billionaire Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.
The explosion occurred around 11pm local time while Starship was on a test stand at its Brownsville, Texas Starbase while preparing for the tenth test flight, SpaceX said in a post on Musk's social-media platform X.
The company attributed it to a "major anomaly," and said all personnel were safe.
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"Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure," Musk said in a post on X, in a reference to a nitrogen gas storage unit known as a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel. "If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design," he continued.
The Starship rocket appeared to experience at least two explosions in quick succession, lighting up the night sky and sending debris flying, according to video capturing the moment it exploded.
The 400-foot (122-meter) tall Starship rocket system is at the core of Musk's goal of sending humans to Mars. But it has been beset by a string of failures this year.
In late May, SpaceX's Starship rocket spun out of control about halfway through a flight without achieving some of its most important testing goals. The Starship lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase, Texas, launch site, flying beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year that sent debris streaking over Caribbean islands and forced dozens of airliners to divert course.
Two months earlier, the spacecraft exploded in space minutes after lifting off from Texas, prompting the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to halt air traffic in parts of Florida.
