A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded late Wednesday night on a test stand in Texas, just as the company was preparing for the tenth test flight of its next-generation heavy-lift launch system.
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that “all personnel are safe and accounted for” and emphasized there are “no hazards to residents in surrounding communities.” In an update on Thursday, the company said preliminary analysis indicates the explosion was triggered by a failure of a “pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel” located in the rocket’s nosecone.
The powerful blast caused damage around the test site, according to SpaceX. However, the company confirmed that no injuries were reported. The explosion occurred as SpaceX was preparing for a “static fire” test of Starship’s six Raptor engines, and the area had been cleared ahead of time as a safety measure.
The incident’s impact on the Starship program timeline remains unclear. A recent advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had suggested the next flight could take place as soon as June 29, but that launch is now expected to be delayed while the company investigates the failure.
In a post apparently referencing the explosion, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk downplayed the event, calling it “Just a scratch.”
SpaceX has spent years aggressively pushing the development of the 171-foot-tall Starship and its 232-foot Super Heavy booster. The company declared 2025 a potentially “transformational” year for the program, and the FAA recently increased the annual launch limit for Starship from 5 to 25 flights in Texas.
Still, the Starship program has encountered a series of setbacks in 2025. The vehicle exploded during its seventh flight test in January, again in March, and once more during its ninth flight in May.
Although the May flight progressed farther than earlier tests, the rocket still failed to successfully deploy its payload of dummy Starlink satellites — a key milestone in SpaceX’s broader goal of using Starship to expand its space-based internet network. Despite these challenges, Musk has maintained an optimistic outlook, stating in a May update that the company is aiming for a Mars mission with Starship in 2026 and giving that effort a “50/50” chance. He also said that a larger “Version 3” of the Starship rocket could fly as early as this year.
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