SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket exploded shortly after launch for a second consecutive time on Thursday, a setback for Elon Musk’s company as it seeks to build a vessel capable of reaching Mars.
Eight minutes after the 400ft rocket system launched from the company’s Starbase in Texas, the upper-stage spacecraft’s engines malfunctioned and the vehicle spun out of control before exploding in the atmosphere above the Caribbean. The lower-stage super heavy booster returned to the launch pad after separation and was caught by mechanical arms.
The eighth Starship test flight had been scheduled for Monday but was cancelled 30 seconds before lift-off due to abnormalities. The malfunction follows a similar failure in January, which also resulted in a fiery explosion and an order from the Federal Aviation Administration to ground all launches pending an investigation.
SpaceX said the vehicle in Thursday’s incident experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” on ascent and that the group was co-ordinating with safety officials to implement “pre-planned contingency responses”.
“As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability,” the company added.
The FAA said in a statement that it was requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into Thursday’s explosion. It noted that some aircraft had been temporarily slowed near where debris was falling and that normal operations have since resumed.
A second failure in as many months will raise further questions about the design and viability of Starship, the largest rocket ever built and pivotal to Musk’s ambitions to add to his network of thousands of broadband satellites, win more contracts from Nasa and eventually transport humans to Mars.
SpaceX became the world’s most valuable private start-up late last year, receiving a $350bn valuation in an employee stock sale. Many of Musk’s enterprises, from Tesla to xAI, have seen substantial investor interest since the election due to his proximity to President Donald Trump, to whom he is the biggest donor and an influential adviser.
The mission was intended to further test Starship’s capabilities, including deploying four dummy Starlink satellites and restarting its Raptor engines in space. The upper section was supposed to orbit the Earth and land in the Indian Ocean near Australia.
The incident came nearly two months after the successful maiden launch of Blue Origin’s smaller New Glenn rocket, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which is challenging Musk in the satellite launch market. The launch of New Glenn came five years later than originally planned.
SpaceX has reached orbit more than 450 times across a range of vehicles compared with Blue Origin achieving the feat once. The Starship rocket first reached space in late 2023 and first caught the reusable booster section in October.
Caleb Henry, an analyst at Quilty Space, said SpaceX had accepted the risk of failure as part of the learning process. “Today’s launch means there’s still more to learn before Starship can begin flying payloads,” he said.