The images appear to capture debris in the sky after SpaceX’s Starship rocket encountered a ‘random fast frame’ during a Jan flight test. 16. [Credit: Greg Munch /TMX]
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to X on Thursday night to explain what his company believes may have caused part of the Starship rocket to undergo a “random unplanned disintegration.”
The upper stage of the SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during the spacecraft’s test flight Thursday afternoon from Starbase in Texas.
“The first indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the area above the firewall of the ship’s engine that was large enough to create pressure beyond the exhaust capacity,” he wrote.
In a post on its website, SpaceX said an “unplanned disintegration” occurred after the upper stage successfully separated from the Starship’s Super Heavy booster and began an “ascent burn” into space. It lost telemetry with the upper stage “after about eight and a half minutes of flight,” according to the company.
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“Preliminary data indicates a fire started in the rear part of the spacecraft, which led to an unplanned disintegration,” SpaceX said.
Pictures showing Starship rocket debris in the sky were posted on social media. Video captured the fragments leaving red and white trails high in the sky over Turks and Caicos.
The images appear to capture debris in the sky after SpaceX’s Starship rocket encountered a ‘random fast frame’ during a Jan flight test. 16. [Credit: Greg Munch /TMX]
“Without obviously looking at the double leak, we’re going to add firepower to that volume and maybe increase the outlet,” Musk told X, adding that “nothing so far suggests the next launch next month.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building on January 24, 2023, in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)
SpaceX said the tower arms successfully held the Starship’s Super Heavy booster during the test flight.
Thursday’s launch marked SpaceX’s seventh launch of its Starship rocket in nearly two years. In November, when SpaceX conducted its sixth test, President-elect Trump came to watch.
A tourist walks near the launch site of the SpaceX Starship rocket on January 14, 2025, near Boca Chica, Texas. (Sergio Flores/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
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“As always, success comes from what we learn, and this flight test will help us improve the reliability of Starship as SpaceX seeks to make life possible on more planets,” SpaceX said. “The data review is already underway as we search for the source. We will conduct a thorough investigation, in cooperation with the FAA, and implement corrective measures to make improvements in future Starship flight tests.”
Launch tests and preparations are already underway for SpaceX’s planned eighth Starship test flight, the company said. Ship and booster construction for that campaign is done.
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The test of SpaceX’s seventh Starship flight came on the same day that rival Blue Origin, founded by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, got the first launch of its new Glenn rocket under its belt.
The launch of Blue Origin took place in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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