SpaceX Starship booster suffers explosion hours after deployment

SpaceX suffered a major setback when a Starship booster unexpectedly exploded just hours after being deployed at the company’s South Texas Starbase.

The blast, captured on site cameras around 4:00am local time, ripped open part of the vehicle’s lower section, despite the fact that no engines had yet been installed.

The Elon Musk-owned space company later confirmed that the Starship booster was undergoing gas-system pressure tests at the time.

Notably, all personnel had cleared the area, and no injuries were reported.

The damaged hardware was the first full-scale booster built for Starship’s next-generation V3 line, which promises greater thrust, improved reliability, and the ability to dock with other spacecraft in Earth orbit.

These upgrades are central to SpaceX’s long-term lunar and Martian plans, especially as it prepares for a busy 2026 schedule that includes demonstrating orbital fuel transfer, a milestone NASA requires before approving crewed lunar missions targeted for 2028.

The explosion comes at a sensitive moment. For those unversed, acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy has already expressed impatience with SpaceX’s pace and has hinted that Blue Origin could take over key lunar responsibilities.

With competitors accelerating, the pressure on SpaceX and its Starship booster programme is now higher than ever.