A critical SpaceX prototype of its Starship upper stage was obliterated in a fiery explosion on Wednesday night, marking a significant disruption in the aerospace giant’s testing timeline. The incident occurred at the company’s Starbase facility, located along the Gulf Coast in Texas, just minutes before a scheduled static fire engine test.
Footage provided by LabPadre, a platform known for livestreaming developments at the Starbase site, captured the dramatic moment when the spacecraft erupted into an enormous fireball shortly after 11 p.m. Central Time. The explosion sent searing fragments of debris into the night sky, consuming the test platform in a blaze that resembled the aftermath of a large-scale detonation.
The video clearly depicts two distinct bursts. The first explosion appeared to initiate near the tip of the rocket, quickly followed by a secondary blast emanating from the rocket’s port side. Both eruptions culminated in a colossal inferno that obscured the launch stand completely.
At the time of the failure, the vehicle — identified as Ship 36 — was undergoing fueling, with tanks being loaded with liquid oxygen and partially filled with high-powered liquid methane. These volatile cryogenic propellants may have been involved in triggering the blast. Nearly an hour and a half after the explosion, flames were still visible at the Massey test site, where SpaceX usually performs cold testing and engine hotfires.
SpaceX confirmed the incident in an official update on its X (formerly Twitter) account, stating: “On Wednesday, June 18 at approximately 11 p.m. CT, the Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase. A safety perimeter was upheld, and all team members are safe and accounted for. Our personnel are currently securing the test area alongside local emergency authorities. There is no danger to nearby residents, and we urge the public to steer clear of the facility.”
The full extent of the damage to the testing infrastructure has not yet been publicly disclosed. While SpaceX is known for rapid response and resilience in the face of hardware failures, the loss of a nearly launch-ready prototype and the apparent destruction of vital infrastructure could present considerable delays. The anticipated test flight, initially slated for late June, has now been pushed back indefinitely.
Ship 36 was scheduled to lift off atop a Super Heavy booster, serving as the integrated vehicle’s tenth flight in a series of uncrewed tests. Static fire runs like this one are routine precursors to launch, allowing engineers to assess new system modifications and ensure reliability under stress.
Since initiating full-scale test flights in April 2023, SpaceX has launched nine Starship-Super Heavy combinations. The early trio of missions ended in catastrophic failures. While the fourth through sixth tests achieved partial success, subsequent flights have had mixed results. Two of the last three missions concluded with Starship explosions, and the third, flown on May 27, entered its target trajectory but disintegrated during atmospheric reentry after losing control.
The stakes of this program are particularly high given that NASA has contracted SpaceX to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface using a specialized version of the Starship. That mission, part of the Artemis program, aims for a landing near the Moon’s south pole within the next few years.
However, the ambitious plan requires SpaceX to execute up to 20 launches of the Super Heavy-Starship system to refuel the Human Landing System (HLS) in low-Earth orbit. The refueling operation itself depends on the success of unprecedented autonomous propellant transfer techniques, in-space fuel storage systems, and thermal control solutions to manage super-cooled methane and oxygen.
With each technical failure, like the one on Wednesday night, the timeline for this groundbreaking mission grows more precarious. The challenge now lies not only in rebuilding the destroyed test asset but also in regaining momentum toward one of the most complex space missions of the decade.
