Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship explodes, disintegrates shortly after launch (Video)
On Thursday, January 16, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company faced a minor setback when its Starship rocket disintegrated shortly after launch. The explosion occurred during the seventh test flight of the Starship, which is part of SpaceX’s plans to enable human travel to Mars and beyond. The rocket, which launched from Boca Chica, Texas, experienced what SpaceX referred to as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” just over eight minutes into the flight, according to The Associated Press.
Musk, taking the explosion in stride, posted a video of the explosion on X with the comment, “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025
pic.twitter.com/nn3PiP8XwG
The Starship rocket, standing at 404 feet tall, is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It was designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration interplanetary flights. During this test flight, the rocket was equipped with six Raptor engines and was intended to complete a near-orbital trajectory before splashing down in the Indian Ocean, according to ARS Technica.
“Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean within the predefined hazard areas,” SpaceX officials wrote in an update. ~ SpaceX.com
–
Space.com quoted Musk as saying that the SpaceX Starship explosion was likely caused by propellant leak. “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.
Debris from the explosion rained down over the Gulf of Mexico, covering a large swath of the Earth including certain regions of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Numerous commercial airline flights were forced to divert to avoid the falling debris.
–
For more on the dramatic explosion of the SpaceX Starship, see the video accompanying this article.
–
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
Follow Richard on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
