Test-fired booster rocket bursts into flames at SpaceX plant

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during a conversation with legendary game designer Todd Howard (not pictured) at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

A booster rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX for its next-generation Starship spacecraft burst into flames during a ground-test firing on Monday in Texas, dealing a likely setback to Musk’s aim of launching Starship to orbit this year.

“Yeah, actually not good. Team is assessing damage,” Musk said on Twitter after the early evening explosion of the Super Heavy Booster 7 prototype, as seen in a livestream recorded by the website NASA Spaceflight.

There was no immediate indication of injuries.

The explosion, which engulfed the base of the rocket in a ball of flames and heavy smoke and appeared to shake the video camera, was specific to the engine spin start test, Musk said on Tuesday.

“Going forward, we won’t do a spin start test with all 33 engines at once,” he said on Twitter.

The booster remained standing upright, bolted to a test gantry afterward.

The failure came in the midst of a dayslong static fire test campaign in Boca Chica, Texas, of the booster, equipped with an array of 33 Raptor engines for use in an upcoming uncrewed orbital test flight SpaceX hoped to launch later this year.

SpaceX’s complete Starship, which will stand 394 feet (120 meters) tall when mated with its super-heavy first-stage booster, is the company’s next-generation launch vehicle at the center of Musk’s ambitions to make human space travel more affordable and routine.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Monday’s blast.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also did not immediately respond when asked if it would investigate the explosion.

In late 2020 and early 2021, SpaceX lost four prototypes of the Starship itself in a series of high-altitude test launches when the return landing attempts ended in explosions. The Starship prototype finally made a safe touchdown in May 2021.

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