SpaceX’s ambitious mission to conquer Mars has suffered another devastating setback as its Starship rocket exploded in a fiery blast during a test at the company’s Starbase launch facility in Brownsville, Texas. The incident occurred late Wednesday night, June 18, just as the spacecraft was being prepped for its highly anticipated tenth test flight.
The explosion, which lit up the Texas night sky around 11 p.m. local time, was quickly confirmed by SpaceX in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The company referred to the mishap as a “major anomaly” and assured the public that no injuries were reported among on-site personnel.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk addressed the explosion via his official X account, sharing preliminary findings that suggest the failure originated from a nitrogen Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV) housed in the rocket’s payload bay. “Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure,” Musk stated. “If confirmed, this would represent the first failure of this nature for this particular design.”
Dramatic footage of the explosion, captured by onlookers and surveillance cameras, flooded social media within minutes, showing multiple bursts and debris scattering violently into the air. The blast dealt a major blow to the integrity of the massive 400-foot (122-meter) Starship rocket system, a key component in Musk’s vision to transport humans to Mars and beyond.
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This is not the first major failure for the Starship program in 2025. Earlier in May, a test flight ended in disaster when the rocket veered off course mid-flight, failing to complete critical mission benchmarks. In March, another Starship exploded mere minutes after launch, scattering fragments across South Florida and the Bahamas, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to suspend flight operations in certain airspaces.
The FAA wrapped up its investigation into that March incident earlier this month, blaming the disaster on engine hardware failure. In response, SpaceX was required to implement eight corrective measures before proceeding with the now-failed June test. A previous attempt in January also ended in catastrophe when a Starship rocket disintegrated over the Caribbean, causing minor damage on the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Despite the repeated failures, Elon Musk remains committed to the Starship project, often characterizing these high-profile explosions as essential learning milestones. He insists that each failed launch brings SpaceX one step closer to building a reliable deep-space transport system that could someday establish a human settlement on Mars.
As of now, the FAA is expected to open a new investigation into this latest explosion before approving any future Starship launches. SpaceX has yet to release an official follow-up statement.
