Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship Explodes at End of Test Launch

SpaceX Starship
NASASpaceflight/YouTube
Lucas Nolan

Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently launched and landed a third Starship test vehicle, the SN10, but shortly after returning to the ground the ship exploded into a fireball. Musk claims the starship will be safe for human transport by 2023.

Interesting Engineering reports that SpaceX successfully launched and landed a third Starship test vehicle this week at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, facility. The vehicle, called the SN10, lifted off at around 6:14 p.m. EST yesterday and landed again at 6:21 p.m. EST.

But as the Starship landed, onlookers noted that it was leaning to one side and small fires were visible inside, leading some commentators to wonder whether it would fall over. Ten minutes later, the Starship exploded into flames.

Currently, it’s believed that the cause of the explosion is a methane leak. At around 10:39:05 in the video below, the Starship can be seen exploding into a ball of fire.

Despite SpaceX’s long history of exploding rockets, some still believe that they will be capable of transporting humans around the moon within just a few years. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa recently published an update on the “dearMoon” mission; the planned maiden voyage of the Starship to the moon with Maezawa as the first passenger to purchase a ticket.

On Tuesday, he announced the opening of a competition for eight “everyday people” to join him on the Starship for a trip around the moon that would see humans leave low Earth orbit for the first time since the Apollo program.

In a video announcing the competition, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk stated: “I’m highly confident that we will have reached orbit many times with Starship before 2023, and that it will be safe enough for human transport by 2023. It’s looking very promising.”

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com

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