Musk Calls Latest Starship Explosion ‘Minor Setback’ For His SpaceX
Topline
Elon Musk responded to critics of SpaceX’s Starship rocket early Friday, suggesting his aerospace firm faces a “minor setback” after the spacecraft experienced another “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its latest test flight, sending flaming debris off the Florida coast.
SpaceX said the rocket experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its ascent burn—the same … [+]
Key Facts
Musk, responding to another X user who said SpaceX has had “worse times,” wrote Starship’s eighth test flight on Thursday was a “minor setback,” suggesting “progress is measured by time” as the next rocket would be ready in four to six weeks.
SpaceX said the company lost connection with Starship after the rocket experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its ascent burn on Thursday, seemingly mirroring a similar result from the spacecraft’s seventh test flight in January.
Musk responded to another X user—who said the latest test flight was “NOT a failure”—suggesting an “upper stage” or “ship failure” caused Starship’s explosion, adding, “But we learned a good amount in building the new ship design and the flight.”
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What Caused Starship To Explode?
It’s unclear what disrupted Starship’s latest test flight, and SpaceX said it would “review the data” to “better understand the root cause.” An investigation revealed Starship’s seventh test flight was disrupted by an oxygen leak, flashes and “sustained fires” in its aft section, which caused the rocket’s engines to shut down and turn on the spacecraft’s self-destruct system. Before Starship’s eighth test flight, SpaceX said it made “several hardware and operational changes” to the spacecraft, including adjusting the rocket’s “operating thrust target,” or how much power the engines generate during flight.
Big Number
More than $13 billion. That’s how much SpaceX has earned in contracts from NASA over the last decade, according to ABC News. The company has earned more than $5 billion in contracts from the Defense Department, according to government records, including $856 million in contracts in 2023 and $1.8 billion in 2024. NASA awarded SpaceX with a nearly $2.9 billion contract in 2021 to send the first woman and first person of color to the moon as part of the agency’s Artemis program.
Key Background
Musk has touted SpaceX’s Starship for years as his aerospace firm has ambitions of ferrying cargo and humans to the moon and Mars. Starship, considered the largest rocket ever at about 400 feet tall, is also expected to play a key role in NASA’s plans to return American astronauts to the moon. Through the rocket’s first series of test flights, including one that exploded seconds after launch and another that exploded shortly after separation, SpaceX said the company has focused on “recursive improvement” to build a “fully reusable transportation system” for space travel. Following the latest test flight, the Federal Aviation Administration briefly halted flights from departing from Florida airports, as flaming debris was seen falling off the state’s coast. SpaceX later said any debris would have fallen within a pre-determined “Debris Response Area” and likely wouldn’t result in “significant impacts” to marine species or water quality.
What To Watch For
Intuitive Machines landed its Athena lander on the moon’s surface on Thursday, though the company has not determined whether the spacecraft landed upright. Odysseus—the company’s last lunar lander to touch down on the moon—landed sideways last year, causing the lander’s mission to be cut short after its solar panels were blocked.
Further Reading
Flights Briefly Halted Out of Miami Area After SpaceX Starship Breaks Into Flames (Forbes)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Test-Launch Of Starship Ends In ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ (Forbes)
