A SpaceX Starship rocket being tested in Texas suffered a significant explosion on Wednesday night, creating a large fireball in the sky.
SpaceX reported a “major anomaly” occurred around 11 PM during testing at the Starbase launch site in South Texas, where the rocket was being prepped for its 10th flight test.
SpaceX stated on X (formerly Twitter) that a safety perimeter was in place and all personnel are safe and accounted for.
This incident is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Starship program.
On January 16th, a Starship rocket disintegrated in what SpaceX termed a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” near the Caribbean Sea.
Just two months later, on March 6th, SpaceX lost contact with another Starship during flight testing. That spacecraft also broke apart, with debris falling over Florida.
Following those incidents, a Starship rocket launched on March 27th from Starbase went out of control and broke apart after a door malfunction prevented planned satellite deployment. It ultimately made an uncontrolled landing in the Indian Ocean.
Despite the issues, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk previously described the March 27th launch as “a big improvement” and expressed optimism for a faster launch cadence moving forward, aiming for launches every three to four weeks for the next three flights.
SpaceX assured the public that Wednesday night’s explosion presented no danger to nearby areas and cautioned against approaching the test site.
The company is collaborating with local authorities to address the incident.
