SpaceX Starship upper stage explodes during ramp-up to expected engine test firing [View all]
Source: CBS news
By June 19, 2025 / 3:05 AM EDT
A SpaceX Starship upper stage exploded in a spectacular conflagration during ramp-up to an expected engine test firing at the company's Starbase manufacturing facility on the Texas Gulf Coast late Wednesday, destroying the rocket in what appears to be a major setback for the Super Heavy-Starship vehicle Elon Musk says is critical to the company's future.
Video from LabPadre, a company that monitors SpaceX activities at Starbase, showed the Starship suddenly exploding in a huge fireball just after 11 p.m. CDT, 10 to 15 minutes before the anticipated engine test firing, sending flaming debris shooting away into the overnight sky from a churning fireball that engulfed the test stand.
The video showed what appeared to be two major explosions, the first near the rocket's nose followed a moment later by a second eruption of flame and debris on the left side of the spacecraft. The test stand disappeared in a billowing fireball that rose into the overnight sky like a bomb blast.
The Starship was being filled with a full load of liquid oxygen and a partial load of high-energy methane fuel when the detonations occurred. Ninety minutes after the initial blast, fires appeared to still be burning out of control at what is known as the Massey test site, where cryogenic testing and hotfire tests are typically conducted.....................
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spacex-starship-upper-stage-explosion-expected-engine-test-firing/
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