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SpaceX’s Starship program hit another fiery speed bump late Wednesday night, when one of its test vehicles exploded during ground testing in Texas. But true to the company’s bold, forward-looking spirit, SpaceX says it’s already digging into the cause and preparing to move forward—with safety, ambition, and a touch of Elon Musk-style nonchalance.
The explosion occurred during preparations for a static fire test of the Starship’s six mighty Raptor engines at the company’s Starbase facility. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, and all personnel are safe. The surrounding area, which had been cleared ahead of testing, also escaped any serious hazards.
In an update shared Thursday, SpaceX revealed that early analysis points to a failure in a pressurized component in the rocket’s nosecone—a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV), to be specific. The explosion damaged the nearby test stand infrastructure, though the extent of that damage hasn’t been fully detailed.
While the setback could delay Starship’s much-anticipated 10th flight—originally projected as soon as June 29 per a recent FAA advisory—SpaceX is already investigating and making repairs.
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
CEO Elon Musk offered a typically Muskian take on X (formerly Twitter), brushing off the explosion as “just a scratch.” If history is any guide, the company will treat this incident not as a disaster, but as one more learning opportunity in the rocket’s iterative development process.
Starship’s 2025 journey has been, well, explosive. After beginning the year with promises of transformation and momentum, the company has experienced multiple flight failures—test flights in January, March, and May all ended short of their goals. Still, progress has been steady, with the May flight reaching farther than any before it, even if it didn’t fully complete its mission to deploy dummy Starlink satellites.
Despite the setbacks, SpaceX’s goals remain sky-high. The company is eyeing Mars for 2026, and Musk says there’s a “50/50” chance a Starship could make the journey. Meanwhile, development continues on a next-gen “Version 3” Starship, which could see test action later this year.
The FAA recently granted SpaceX permission to increase its launch cadence from 5 to 25 flights per year from the Texas site—another sign of confidence in the program’s trajectory, even if the rockets sometimes fall short of the stars.
As always with SpaceX, it’s not just about what went wrong—it’s about what happens next. And if history holds, the next Starship will be on the pad sooner than anyone expects.
Stay tuned. The journey to Mars doesn’t stop at a few fireballs.
