On the 16th, SpaceX’s Starship rocket underwent its seventh test flight, resulting in an explosion and disintegration just eight and a half minutes after launch. To avoid falling debris, dozens of flights over the Gulf of Mexico were forced to reroute. However, despite the loss of the upper portion of the rocket, the lower section, known as the Super Heavy booster, successfully landed and docked with the gigantic robotic arm, “Mechazilla,” on the launch pad.
(Background: Musk watched SpaceX’s sixth test flight with Trump, where the engines were reignited in space for the first time, but the booster was not successfully recovered.)
(Additional context: Musk: sending Starship to Mars in two years and building a Martian city within twenty years; what role does blockchain play?)
SpaceX conducted the seventh test flight of its heavy-lift rocket, Starship, on the 16th, but it exploded just minutes after launch. According to Bloomberg, this represents an unexpected setback for SpaceX, as the company had previously made steady progress in enhancing the rocket’s performance.
Although SpaceX lost the upper portion of the rocket, the Super Heavy booster returned to the launch pad approximately seven minutes after liftoff, landing gently and successfully docking with “Mechazilla.” This marked the second successful recovery out of three attempts by SpaceX.
Mechazilla has caught the Super Heavy booster! pic.twitter.com/aq91TloYzY
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 16, 2025
The Starship was launched at 4:37 PM local time on Thursday from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. The original plan was for Starship to attempt to reach nearly orbital velocity and deploy ten mock spacecraft, which simulated the size, shape, and weight of future Starlink satellites to be launched by Starship. This mission was intended to be Starship’s first attempt to deploy payloads in space, a crucial milestone for the rocket’s formal carrying capacity. However, less than eight and a half minutes into the mission, SpaceX lost communication with Starship, and the launch commentator subsequently announced that the spacecraft had “gone dark.”
Explosion due to fuel leak
Musk shared a video of debris falling from the sky, stating, “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed.” Regarding the cause of the crash, he later indicated that preliminary signs suggested an oxygen/fuel leak occurred in the cavity above the engine firewall, a leak sufficient to exceed the pressure release capacity. However, there are currently no indications that the next launch needs to be postponed beyond next month.
Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed! ✨
pic.twitter.com/nn3PiP8XwG
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025
This mission was the shortest Starship test flight since November 2023, when SpaceX lost the spacecraft about eight minutes into its second test flight. This explosion incident represents an unexpected turn, as SpaceX had been making continuous progress in Starship test flights, with each new launch attempt presenting greater challenges.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), responsible for rocket launch and re-entry permits, stated that “anomaly” was observed during the Starship test flight. The FAA is currently assessing the operation and has slowed and altered the flight paths of aircraft over the area where the Starship debris fell.
Notably, just a day before this incident, Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its “New Glenn” rocket into orbit, as Blue Origin seeks to challenge SpaceX’s absolute dominance in the commercial space sector.
