Video of SpaceX's Starship rocket exploding and falling like a meteor shower during test flight

According to RT on January 17, videos recorded by observers showed pieces of Starship breaking apart and burning as it fell, creating a spectacular scene resembling a meteor shower.

The test flight was conducted on the afternoon of January 16 at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica (Texas, USA) to demonstrate the rocket's capabilities, including carrying 10 fake satellites into orbit.

During the incident, the Starship's Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the launch pad and was caught by the launch tower's mechanical arm - a feat that had only been achieved once before. However, the Starship's spacecraft suffered an engine failure during its ascent.

Communications were lost about eight and a half minutes into the flight, resulting in a quick, unplanned separation of Starship.

“It was great to see the booster land, but we’re obviously disappointed in the vehicle,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said of the incident. “This was a test flight. It’s a test vehicle.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared one of the videos on social media but has not confirmed whether it is the rocket that failed.

Mr. Musk also shared a preliminary analysis of what could have caused the Starship to fail. He wrote on the social network X: “Preliminary indications are that there was an oxygen or fuel leak in the compartment above the engine bulkhead of the ship, causing pressure that exceeded the ability of the system to vent.

In addition to more thorough inspections for leaks, we will be adding fire suppression to the area and possibly increasing the exhaust area. So far, there is nothing to suggest that the next launch should be postponed until next month.”

Liquid oxygen is used as an oxidizer on Starship, helping the engines burn liquid methane. Both liquid oxygen and methane are propellants used by Starship's Raptor engine.

The incident comes amid fierce competition in the private space industry. On the same day, Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, launched its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Although the rocket’s upper stage successfully reached orbit, the first stage failed to land on the recovery ship, resulting in its destruction.

At 400 feet tall, SpaceX's Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket. SpaceX plans to use Starship to deploy Starlink satellites and eventually send crews to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX and NASA are aiming big with this rocket.

NASA wants to use Starship to make the final leg of its Artemis program, returning astronauts to the Moon for the first time in five decades. In 2021, the agency signed a $2.9 billion contract with SpaceX to carry out the mission, and later signed an additional $1 billion contract.

According to NASA's latest schedule, Starship's first crewed moon landing could happen as early as mid-2027.

Starship is also central to SpaceX’s goal of sending humans to Mars. The company’s founding goal is to make humans a multiplanetary species, sending them to live on other planets in the event that Earth becomes uninhabitable. That requires a really big rocket.

“We’re trying to build something that can create a permanent base on the Moon and a city on Mars – that’s why it’s so big,” Elon Musk said in 2023.

Whether this goal is economically, technologically, and politically feasible remains to be seen. But Mr. Musk and SpaceX have attracted a large and loyal following for the idea.

Starship also has other goals, such as taking space tourists on trips to deep space. At least one customer, billionaire Jared Isaacman (recently picked by President-elect Donald Trump to head NASA), is leading a development program with SpaceX and plans to one day fly on Starship.

Starship is also tasked with launching SpaceX's Starlink satellites, providing internet service globally.
The rocket is also capable of launching new scientific instruments, such as space telescopes.