In South Texas, an upgraded Starship booster exploded during testing
SpaceX on Thursday began testing an upgraded version of the Starship rocket booster at the Starbase range, but within a few hours an explosion occurred inside the installation. The incident happened around 4:00 a.m. local time and was captured by streamers monitoring the complex's operations. Photos published by eyewitnesses show that the explosion destroyed a significant part of the lower section of the booster.
What is known
According to SpaceX, a gas system was being tested under increased pressure during the incident. There were no casualties as people were evacuated from the area beforehand.
The damaged booster was the first element of the Starship version V3. SpaceX describes this version as larger, more powerful, and reliable, and capable of docking with other ships in orbit. This is key to realizing plans for flights to the Moon and Mars. It is currently unknown how the explosion will affect the timeline of the program, but a potential delay could jeopardize the 2026 schedule.
NASA expects a demonstration of the Starship refueling in orbit before future crewed missions. Meanwhile, SpaceX's competitor Blue Origin is actively ramping up: the company has launched the New Glenn rocket twice, delivered NASA's commercial payload for the first time, and even landed the booster, and recently unveiled an even larger version of the rocket aimed directly at competing with Starship.
Source: SpaceX
