SpaceX’s Starship 36 Explodes on Launch Pad during Routine Test
The real setbacks to SpaceX may be related to the launch infrastructure that was damaged during the catastrophic incident.
SpaceX’s Starship Ship 36 experienced a catastrophic explosion at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas during preparations for its tenth test flight.
The incident occurred while the vehicle was being loaded with liquid oxygen and methane fuel for a planned static fire test of its six Raptor engines.
The upper stage of the rocket, the largest ever built, was undergoing routine testing to prepare for its 10th test flight at SpaceX’s South Texas Starbase site on Wednesday night (June 18) when it “suffered a catastrophic failure and exploded,” local authorities wrote on Facebook.
The gigantic fireball adds to a string of recent headaches for the rocket’s upper stages. The ship exploded mid-flight during two previous test flights in January and March, and fell to pieces during an earlier-than-planned reentry in May.
SpaceX representatives indicate it was the result of a “major anomaly”. Fortunately, no injuries or fatalities were reported.
On Wednesday, June 18 at approximately 11 p.m. CT, the Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase. A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted…
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2025
The company said the Starship “experienced a major anomaly” at about 11 p.m. while on the test stand preparing for the tenth flight test at Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas.
“A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” SpaceX said in a statement on the social platform X.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk indicates the failure may have been related to the spacecraft’s COPV (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel). This is a type of pressure vessel designed to store high-pressure gases such as nitrogen. The COPV consists of a thin, non-structural liner (often metallic) wrapped with a structural fiber composite, which provides high strength and lower weight compared to traditional all-metal tanks.
Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen COPV in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure.
If further investigation confirms that this is what happened, it is the first time ever for this design.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2025
While the Starship was completely destroyed in the explosion, the real setbacks may be related to the damage done to the launch infrastructure during the catastrophic incident.
However, for the Starship program, Ship 36’s anomaly is a notable setback. SpaceX has not only lost a ship in ground testing for the first time since SN4 in May 2020, but also lost the ability to perform testing at Massey’s due to significant damage to its static fire test stand and surrounding propellant farm infrastructure. With the loss of Ship 36, SpaceX will not be flying again soon.
Notably, the COPVs installed on Starship and Super Heavy share no commonality with COPVs used on SpaceX’s Falcon rockets. Thus, Ship 36’s COPV rupture is an isolated problem for the Starship program.
This event represents the fourth consecutive setback for the program, challenging the ambitious vision of Mars colonization championed by Musk. From a financial perspective, each “anomaly” requires substantial investment in root-cause analysis, system redesigns, and additional testing (processes that increase overall development costs). These mounting expenditures could pressure SpaceX’s financial resources, potentially impacting its capacity to fulfill current contracts and secure capital for future initiatives.
Moreover, these repeated challenges threaten to delay critical milestones not only for SpaceX’s long-term Mars objectives but also for NASA’s Artemis program, which is counting on Starship for lunar lander capabilities. Maintaining project timelines is essential for capitalizing on revenue opportunities and avoiding contractual penalties. Thus, each setback introduces risks to both near-term revenue streams and longer-term financial planning, raising concerns among stakeholders and partners invested in these ventures.
That being said, SpaceX’s Starship program has emerged as a powerful symbol of American ambition and innovation, capturing public imagination and serving as a source of inspiration across the nation. The program is widely viewed as a significant step forward for both the United States and humanity at large—potentially the most important since the Apollo 11 moon landing—in the journey toward becoming a true spacefaring and multiplanetary civilization.
I wish Musk and SpaceX good luck on Starship 37!
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Comments
I HATE it when that happens. But then, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it….
Well said (err written).
It was a morning like any other when Lionel loaded up the trunk with dynamite for a day of bass fishing.
“…becoming a spacefaring and multiplanetary civilization” Of a tribalistic species that gets its jollies from developing devious, innovative ways to inflict gruesome mutilations and death upon others. But hey — it’s technological “progress”.
Shouldn’t you be out in the bush preaching to the barbarians, Reverend?
Last time I checked, no planet within 5 light years has “life”. Maybe two moons “might” but that is so unlikely as to not count. We have enough challenges getting to the moon now to worry about.
So the pressure vessel failed below normal ….. hum… a little hacksaw here or there…. what could the Left do to hurt SpaceX?
I actually wondered whether sabotage could be involved but is equally possible the vessel was faulty, or the math was wrong,
Like who, the Martians?
I don’t get idiots like you. When we DON’T create new ways to kill, when we work at advancing technological innovation to explore, you still whine about it. What the hell do you want? I mean besides to be able to sit in your boxers in your stinking apartment virtue signaling about bad humans are.
The dream is that the people who have their heads screwed on straight will have a place to start over again all by themselves. The factor that always dooms such things is… kids. Same as the factor that dooms any Galt’s Gulch — hormones and human nature. Kids not only rarely share all their parents’ values, they most often actively oppose them. The only community that escaped that doom were the Shakers, and they are now down to three members due to the most obvious pitfall in their lifestyle… and word in the local tabloids has it that two of them really don’t get along.
“a thin, non-structural liner (often metallic) wrapped with a structural fiber composite, which provides high strength and lower weight compared to traditional all-metal tanks.”
You mean, like something you ought not to visit the Titanic in?
I’m thinking we may have a serious infestation of DEI in the structural composites industry…
Not likely, the design is quite similar to the air tanks that firefighters have been using for decades. The fibers are in tension, like a rope, not in compression, like the Titan. But rockets are like race cars, you want to pare just enough, but not too much weight. At guess, just a little too much safety factor was omitted.
Leslie, please do even a little investigation before posting inaccurate information. While of course it was a significant event, the explosion occurred at a test facility, many miles from the launch site. It makes you appear like most of the media today: intellectually weak and lazy.