Who owns SpaceX? Company’s rocket explodes Thursday, second in a month
SpaceX Starship explodes in sky above Florida
SpaceX lost its second Starship in nearly a month on Thursday, March 6 after it exploded after launch in Texas.
- A second SpaceX Starship spacecraft exploded on Thursday. This is the second time one has done this.
A month and a half after losing one spacecraft in an explosion, SpaceX has lost another.
On March 6, a fiery explosion engulfed another unmanned Starship rocket test flight after its launch in Texas. The explosion could be seen in Florida and even in the sky above some Caribbean islands on Thursday evening. Fiery debris shot through the sky and temporarily affected flights at Miami-area airports.
As of Friday morning, the cause of the explosion is still unknown, but SpaceX reported losing communication with the rocket after launch.
“Once you lose enough of those center engines, you’re going to lose attitude control,” said Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager, on the livestream. “And so we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point, we have lost contact with the ship.”
SpaceX stated that the craft and rocket “experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” similar language used in January when Starship’s last test flight unexpectedly exploded in the sky.
“Obviously a lot to go through, a lot to dig through, and we’re going to go right at it,” SpaceX’s Huot said during the livestream of Thursday’s launch. “We have some more to learn about this vehicle.”
Who owns SpaceX?
The company is owned by billionaire, turned political figure, Elon Musk.
What does SpaceX do?
Musk, an entrepreneur, backed the space technology company whose mission was to revolutionize the aerospace industry and make spaceflight affordable.
Started in 2002, the private company has built multiple rockets, held multiple launches into space, helped to deliver government satellites into orbit and is even recorded as the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.
The funding for some SpaceX projects has come from government coffers at an estimated $22 billion in funds through government contracts, according to Reuters. A majority of those funds, $15 billion, came from NASA.
How much in government contracts does Elon Musk have in total?
Reports indicate as of 2025, Musk has at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, tax credits and subsidies, according to a February article by the Washington Post.
Memphis-based xAI to be a data hub for SpaceX
In 2024, it was announced that Memphis would be home to Musk’s latest project xAI and be a data hub for his other companies with the letter x in it, including SpaceX.
The project has relied on private funding for the xAI facility that houses a supercomputer. The planned expansions of the xAI supercomputer are also expected to be privately funded.
In September, xAI’s 100,000-chip supercomputer, Colossus, officially went online.
According to the website, the company’s goal is “working on building artificial intelligence to accelerate human scientific discovery. We are guided by our mission to advance our collective understanding of the universe.”
The facility has drawn some criticism from residents and advocacy groups concerned about its environmental impact and the potential harm gas turbines used at the facility could have on the area.
USATODAY contributed to this report.
