SpaceX Starship explodes: What went wrong with Elon Musk's rocket?

The explosion, which took place over the Gulf of Mexico, caused nearby airline flights to change course to avoid falling debris

SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded just minutes into its seventh test flight, a major setback in the company’s ambitious mission to build a next-generation spacecraft. The rocket, which was carrying its first test payload of mock satellites, lifted off from South Texas at 5.38 pm EST (2238 GMT) but lost contact with SpaceX mission control just eight minutes later.

 

The explosion prompted airlines flying over the Gulf of Mexico to alter their routes to avoid falling debris, adding to the urgency of the situation. This is another hurdle for SpaceX’s flagship rocket program, which had been making significant progress in recent months.

 

 

What went wrong with SpaceX’s Starship test flight? 

While SpaceX continues to investigate the cause of the failure, initial reports point to an oxygen leak as the likely culprit. Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, took to his social media platform, X, to share early findings.

 

“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity,” Musk said in his post.

 

 

Despite the setback, Musk remained optimistic about future launches, saying the team would make the necessary adjustments to prevent similar issues. “Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase the vent area. Nothing so far suggests pushing the next launch past next month,” he said.

 

Will Starship reach Mars? 

This test flight was part of Musk’s broader goal to build a rocket capable of ferrying humans and cargo to Mars. The explosion marks the seventh Starship test since 2023, as SpaceX works to push the limits of its technology. While the failure is disappointing, it is part of SpaceX’s “test-to-failure” approach, where prototypes are intentionally pushed to their engineering limits in order to gather critical data for future improvements.

 

The last major Starship failure occurred in March 2024, when the upper stage failed while reentering Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. However, Thursday’s explosion was notable because the mission had previously seen success in the phase that failed this time.

 

Meanwhile, the Falcon Super Heavy booster, which is part of the Starship system, successfully returned to its launchpad about seven minutes after liftoff, just as planned. The booster slowed its descent by reigniting its Raptor engines and was safely secured by mechanical arms on the launch tower.