SpaceX Starship rocket tumbles out of control and explodes in third major setback

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship tumbled out of control after a test launch in Texas on Tuesday evening and the first-stage Super Heavy booster exploded shortly before the craft’s planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Fuel leaks on the upper-stage vehicle caused it to spin uncontrollably before its planned re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX confirmed that the rocket broke apart during re-entry, which it again euphemistically termed as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” SpaceX said in a statement. “Teams will continue to review data and work towards our next flight test.”

The mammoth 400-foot Starship rocket was successfully launched into sub-orbit from its Starbase in Texas at 6:36 p.m. local time, but it was unable to deploy its payload – eight mock Starlink satellites – before the flight went awry.

It was the third straight major problem in a Starship launch that SpaceX has repeatedly characterized as valuable learning experiences.

“Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review,” Musk said in a post on X after the Starship disintegrated.

He noted: “Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent.”

Two previous Starship test flights failed after just 10 minutes.

Tuesday’s mission was the ninth test launch of a Starship rocket.

SpaceX has previously successfully launched Starship into space, and the rocket has splashed down into the ocean as planned. Giant robotic arms have also caught the craft’s rocket booster stage, which is supposed to be reusable, on Starship’s return to Earth.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.