Elon Musk’s Starship Obliterated: Massive Explosion Rocks SpaceX Base—Terrifying Blast Shakes Engineers, Sends Shockwaves Through Space Industry. Hopes for Mars Mission Up in Smoke as Fiery Catastrophe Unfolds Live—What Caused the Disaster? The Stunning Failure That Could Change the Course of Space Exploration Forever!
On June 19, the upper deck of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft operated by technology billionaire Elon Musk exploded violently, just before conducting engine tests at the Starbase facility (Texas, USA).
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft explodes during testing – Video: Times News
According to CBS News on June 19, the explosion completely destroyed the missile and is considered a major setback for the Super Heavy-Starship spacecraft that billionaire Musk insists will become a key vehicle for SpaceX’s future.
The video provided by LabPadre – SpaceX’s activity monitoring unit – recorded the Starship rocket suddenly exploding into a giant fireball at 11 p.m. (local time) on June 18, about 10-15 minutes before the engine test was scheduled to begin.
The video shows what appears to have been two explosions – the first near the bow of the rocket, and the second shortly afterwards on the left side of the hull, with flames and debris shooting violently. The test pad almost disappeared in a fireball rising in the night, looking like a bomb explosion.
At the time of the explosion, the ship was being filled with liquid oxygen and partly methane – two flammable fuels.
“Starship is preparing for its 10th test flight when it encountered a serious problem at the test pad at Starbase. There was no loss of life and all employees were safe. We are coordinating with local authorities to ensure the safety of the test area and its vicinity,” SpaceX posted a statement on social media X.
The detonated missile, codenamed Ship 36, is expected to be launched later this month along with the giant Super Heavy booster stage in its 10th integrated and unmanned test flight. The hotfire test is a routine pre-launch test to evaluate performance and technical upgrades.
The upper deck of the Starship exploded at the Starbase facility (Texas, USA) – Photo: CBS NEWS
From April 2023 to now, SpaceX has carried out 9 test flights of this giant rocket. In which, the first three flights were completely unsuccessful, the next three were partially successful, and two of the last three flights exploded in the middle of the journey.
The closest flight on May 27 reached the trajectory as planned, but lost control and burst when it returned to the atmosphere.
This explosion is considered a big step back, especially in the context that the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is expecting SpaceX to soon complete the Starship variant to land astronauts near the south pole of the Moon within the next 2-3 years.
To carry out that mission, SpaceX must conduct 10-20 launches to refuel the lander in Earth orbit, while perfecting extremely complex technologies such as automatic cryogenic fuel transfer and heat retention for fuel in space.
With a height of 123 meters, Starship is currently the world’s largest and most powerful spacecraft complex, playing a key role in billionaire Musk’s long-term vision to put humans on Mars.
SpaceX test-fired Starship rocket for the 9th time, failed after 30 minutes of takeoff
On the morning of May 28 (Vietnam time), billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX Company launched the 9th Starship rocket test, but it lost control and failed after more than 30 minutes of takeoff.
