SpaceX’s colossal Starship spacecraft erupted in a dramatic explosion just minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday. The blast prompted the FAA to suspend air traffic in parts of Florida, per Reuters. This marks the second consecutive blunder for Elon Musk’s Mars rocket program this year.
Videos by Suggest
Videos circulating on social media captured fiery debris blazing across the evening skies over South Florida and the Bahamas. The spectacle followed the breakup of Starship in space, moments after it began spinning out of control and its engines shut down, as shown in a SpaceX live stream of the mission.
Just saw Starship 8 blow up from our flight @elonmusk @SpaceX pic.twitter.com/RyDzUtXzpo
— DegenZee (@Degen_Zee) March 7, 2025
Around 6:30 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched its rocket from its large site in Boca Chica, Texas. The Super Heavy first-stage booster worked perfectly, landing back on Earth as planned and being caught midair by a SpaceX crane.
However, minutes later, SpaceX’s live stream showed the Starship upper stage spinning in space, along with a graphic indicating several engine failures. Shortly after, the company confirmed it had lost contact with the spacecraft. The announcers noted that the issue was similar to problems faced during the previous flight.
“Unfortunately this happened last time too, so we’ve got some practice now,” SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot deadpanned during the live stream, per Reuters.
SpaceX reported that Starship lost several engines due to an “energetic event” in its aft section, causing a loss of control and communication about 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff. The company claimed the debris contains no toxic materials.
The Latest SpaceX Rocket Explosion Follows a Similar Incident in January
The explosion of the eighth rocket comes just over a month after the seventh met a similarly explosive fate. These consecutive setbacks occurred during early mission phases that SpaceX had successfully navigated in the past, marking an unexpected hurdle for a program Elon Musk aimed to accelerate this year.
The 403-foot rocket is key to Musk’s goal of sending humans to Mars by the end of the decade.
The Starship’s January failure occurred eight minutes into its flight when the rocket exploded, scattering debris across Caribbean islands. The incident caused minor damage, including to a car in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The FAA, which oversees private rocket launches, said SpaceX must determine what caused the failure and get approval before Starship can fly again.
Last month, the FAA approved SpaceX’s launch license for Thursday’s test flight, even though its investigation into the previous Starship failure is still ongoing. The FAA reviewed SpaceX’s license application and initial findings from the mishap investigation before allowing the eighth Starship flight to move forward.
Starship’s goal was to complete nearly a full orbit around Earth before re-entering over the Indian Ocean for a splashdown. This mission aimed to simulate a landing sequence, a critical step in SpaceX’s plans to eventually transition to land-based landings as the next phase of the rocket’s development.