Elon Musk hoped to launch the fully stacked Starship rocket in July, but today's explosion could seriously complicate these plans.
The explosion happened around 5:20 p.m. ET, and it was as unexpected as it was severe. No word yet on the cause of the anomaly or whether anyone was hurt during the incident. The explosion was followed by a significant amount of fire in the vicinity of the giant booster rocket; flames and smoke could still be seen wafting from the launch pad an hour after the incident, but the situation at the test site didn’t appear to be worsening.
A static fire test was not expected today, and the launch pad had not been prepared or cleared for such a test . Venting from directly beneath the booster increased dramatically in the moments prior to the explosion, which produced a powerful fireball and shock wave. SpaceX did not immediately respond to our request for more information.The Elon Musk-led company is currently testing Super Heavy Booster 7 at its Boca Chica facility, known as Starbase.
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