SpaceX Starship Explodes During Test Flight, Delaying Musk’s Mars Ambitions

SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded in a fiery blast during testing late Wednesday night, dealing a fresh setback to Elon Musk’s ambitious goal of sending humans to Mars.

The incident occurred around 11 p.m. local time at the SpaceX Starbase facility in Brownsville, Texas, as the rocket was being prepped for its tenth test flight.

SpaceX confirmed the explosion on X (formerly Twitter), describing it as a “major anomaly,” while assuring that no injuries were reported.

Elon Musk later shared that early data pointed to a failure in a nitrogen Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (COPV) located in the payload bay, noting, “If confirmed, this would be the first failure of its kind for this design.”

Dramatic videos circulating online showed multiple explosions lighting up the night sky, with debris scattering across the launch site.

Standing 400 feet (122 meters) tall, Starship is the world’s most powerful launch system and a core element of Musk’s long-term Mars colonization vision. However, the program has faced repeated technical challenges in 2025.

In March, a Starship rocket exploded minutes after liftoff, causing debris to rain over parts of the Caribbean. Another vehicle lost control mid-flight in May, failing to complete its testing objectives.

Though the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved further flights after SpaceX implemented eight corrective actions, the latest failure will likely prompt a fresh investigation.

Despite the series of failed launches, Musk remains optimistic, calling these setbacks necessary learning moments in building a safe and reliable deep-space transport system.

SpaceX has not issued further comments on the latest explosion as the FAA begins a new safety review.