SpaceX Starship Explodes Over Indian Ocean in Latest Test, Musk Vows Faster Launches

SpaceX Starship Explodes Over Indian Ocean in Latest Test, Musk Vows Faster Launches

Last Updated May - 28 - 2025, 12:56 PM | Source : Fela News

SpaceX’s Starship prototype exploded during a test flight over the Indian Ocean, marking another setback in Elon Musk’s Mars mission. Despite the failure, Musk

On Tuesday (May 27, 2025), SpaceX’s Starship prototype exploded over the Indian Ocean, concluding another turbulent test flight for the rocket at the heart of Elon Musk’s vision to colonize Mars. The colossal rocket — the largest and most powerful ever constructed — launched at 6:36 p.m. local time (2336 GMT) from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in southern Texas, near a village that recently voted to become a city, now also named Starbase.

Excitement buzzed among SpaceX staff and onlookers, especially after the previous two tests ended with the upper stage breaking apart over the Caribbean. But trouble surfaced quickly: the Super Heavy booster failed to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico and instead exploded.

The livestream then showed the upper-stage Starship failing to open its payload bay doors to deploy Starlink satellite test units. Though the vehicle traveled farther than in its previous attempts, it developed leaks and started spinning uncontrollably while in space. Mission controllers vented fuel to minimize the force of the expected explosion. Around 45 minutes into the intended 66-minute mission, onboard cameras cut off, with the rocket falling short of its target splashdown zone off the western coast of Australia.

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” SpaceX wrote on X — using the company's now-familiar euphemism for explosive failure — while emphasizing that lessons would be learned from the attempt.

Elon Musk responded by promising to speed up future tests: “Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster — approximately one every 3 to 4 weeks,” he posted.

Aiming for the Stars:

Standing 123 meters tall, Starship is designed to be fully reusable and affordable, supporting Musk’s broader ambition of turning humanity into a multi-planetary species. NASA also has high hopes for the rocket, as a modified version is planned to land astronauts on the Moon for the Artemis 3 mission.

Leading up to the launch, space enthusiasts gathered at Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island, eager to witness history in the making. Tour boats floated nearby, and the live feed showed Musk monitoring the launch from mission control, clad in an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt.

Australian tourist Piers Dawson, 50, told AFP he planned his family's first U.S. trip around the event. “I’m obsessed,” he said. Joshua Wingate, a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur from Austin, echoed the optimism, saying, “In science there’s no such thing as failure — every test teaches you something.”

Testing Limits:

This flight was Starship’s ninth integrated test and marked the first time both the upper stage and Super Heavy booster were lost since the second test. It was also the first time SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster, though the company didn’t attempt to catch it. Instead, they tested a more aggressive descent profile and disabled one engine to push performance limits.

Despite the setback, SpaceX achieved a key milestone by successfully catching the Super Heavy booster in its launch tower arms three times — a critical step toward the company’s goal of rapid, low-cost reuse.

Recently, the FAA authorized SpaceX to ramp up its annual Starship launches from five to 25, ruling the increase wouldn’t significantly affect the environment. This decision overrode concerns from environmentalists worried about potential harm to local wildlife such as sea turtles and shorebirds.

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