One of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starships exploded into a towing fireball during a routine static test late Wednesday, thereby becoming the latest setback to the billionaire’s lofty dream of catapulting earthbound humans into “becoming a multiplanet species.”
The Starship 36 suffered “catastrophic failure and exploded” at the Starbase launch facility in Texas shortly after 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), a Facebook post by the Cameron County authorities said, per an AFP report.
A video shared on X showed the megarocket attached to the launch arm and then a flash igniting a towering, fiery explosion.
Musk’s Space X said the rocket was preparing for the tenth flight test when it “experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase,” without elaborating on the nature of the complication.
“A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” Space X added on social media.
“There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while operations continue.”
Other SpaceX craft have also met fiery ends but the failures reportedly will likely do little to dent Musk’s spacefaring ambitions, the AFP report notes.
Standing 403 feet tall, Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and central to Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars.
The Starship was not scheduled for launch on Wednesday evening when the explosion occurred during a “routine static fire test,” according to the Cameron County authorities.
