SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket exploded late on Wednesday, June 18, during a test run in Texas. This is another major challenge for Elon Musk’s dream of sending humans to Mars.
The explosion happened around 11 p.m. at SpaceX’s Starbase in Brownsville, Texas. The rocket was being prepared for its 10th test flight. SpaceX confirmed the blast on X (formerly Twitter), calling it a “major anomaly” and confirmed that no one was hurt.
Elon Musk later said the failure may have been caused by a faulty nitrogen storage tank inside the rocket’s cargo section. This type of tank is called a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV).
According to Musk, if this issue is confirmed, it would be the first time this type of tank has failed in the current rocket design.
Videos shared online showed at least two explosions lighting up the sky and pieces of the rocket flying in different directions.
Starship stands 400 feet tall and is a key part of Musk’s vision to build a city on Mars. But the project has faced many technical problems this year.
In May, a Starship test flight lost control mid-air. It did go further than previous tests but still failed before completing the mission.
Another explosion happened in March, just minutes after liftoff. The rocket broke apart in the sky, causing the FAA to stop flights in some parts of Florida. Videos showed burning pieces falling over South Florida and the Bahamas.
After that, the FAA investigated and said the explosion was due to engine failure. SpaceX said it made eight changes to fix the problem before the May test.
In January, another Starship flight also ended in failure. The rocket broke up in the sky over the Caribbean. Some debris even damaged a car in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Even with these problems, Elon Musk stays hopeful. He says these failed tests help improve the rocket and are necessary to reach space safely one day.
For now, SpaceX has not shared any more details about this latest explosion. The FAA is expected to investigate again before new test flights can continue.
