SpaceX Starship rocket explodes in setback to Musk's Mars mission
Flames rise as a SpaceX rocket explodes in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., June 18, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. TheRocketFuture via X/via REUTERS
(Reuters) -SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded into a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas late on Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks for billionaire Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.
The explosion occurred around 11 p.m. local time while Starship was on a test stand at its Brownsville, Texas Starbase while preparing for the tenth test flight, SpaceX said in a post on Musk's social-media platform X.
The company attributed it to a "major anomaly,' and said all personnel were safe.
'Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure,' Musk said in a post on X, in a reference to a nitrogen gas storage unit known as a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel. 'If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design,' he continued.
SpaceX didn't immediately respond to a request for further comment.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Cassel Bryan-Low in London; Editing by Joe Brock and Aidan Lewis)
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