SpaceX's $3 billion rocket EXPLODES just minutes after test launch

Ben Chapman

By Ben Chapman


Published: 20/04/2023

- 15:08

Updated: 20/04/2023

- 16:23

The rocket ship exploded just minutes after lift-off

The world’s largest rocket, the SpaceX Starship, exploded just minutes after its successful launch.

A live webcast of the lift-off showed the rocket ship rising from the launch tower before it failed to separate as designed.


The upper-stage Starship did not disjoin from the lower-stage Super Heavy resulting in the combined vehicle flipping end over end before exploding.

Members of the SpaceX team were seen celebrating the feat regardless.

Elon Musk admitted his team had "learned a lot" from the launch.

“Congrats SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!,” he tweeted.

“Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months.”

SpaceX had hoped the rocket ship would complete a 90-minute debut flight into space after it blasted off from the company’s Starbase spaceport and test facility east of Brownsville, Texas.

The two-stage machine stands taller than the Statue of Liberty at 394 feet (120m) high.

The brief episode has been declared a successful test flight by SpaceX officials as they laud the achievement of getting it off the ground.

In reference to the explosion, SpaceX tweeted: “As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation.”

The upper and lower segments of the system are designed to bring themselves back down to Earth safely for a soft landing in order for them to be reused.

The reusability of the rockets makes space flight a lot cheaper than what Nasa could offer, according to Elon Musk.

Rockets exploding is not unprecedented for SpaceX, and the private venture often encourages it as they seek to learn more about their creations.

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