During a ground-test firing on Monday in Texas, a booster rocket created by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for its next-generation Starship spacecraft caught fire, presumably delaying Musk’s goal of flying Starship into orbit this year.
After the prototype Super Heavy Booster 7’s early-evening explosion, which was seen on camera by the website NASA Spaceflight, Musk posted the following statement on Twitter: “Yeah, actually not good. Team is assessing damage.”
There was no sign of injuries right away.
According to Musk, the explosion was unique to the engine spin start test and consumed the rocket’s base in a ball of flames and thick smoke. It also appeared to shake the video camera.
“Going forward, we won’t do a spin start test with all 33 engines at once,” he said on Twitter.
The booster was later attached to a test gantry while still standing upright.
The launcher, equipped with a collection of 33 Raptor engines for use in a forthcoming unscrewed orbital test flight SpaceX wanted to launch later this year, failed during a days-long static fire test campaign near Boca Chica, Texas.
Musk’s goals to make human space flight more accessible and commonplace are at the core of SpaceX’s next-generation launch vehicle, the Starship, which will tower 394 feet (120 meters) tall when coupled with its super-heavy first-stage booster.
A request for comment on the explosion on Monday was not immediately answered by SpaceX.
When questioned about looking into the incident, the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also did not answer right away.
In a series of high-altitude test launches in late 2020 and early 2021, SpaceX lost four Starship prototypes when the return landing attempts ended in explosions. In May 2021, the Starship prototype at long last touched down safely.
