SpaceX's Starship explodes in Texas during preparations for 10th test flight

[Admin]

SpaceX's newest Starship vehicle exploded on a stand in Texas late Wednesday night (June 18), as it was being prepped for the program's 10th-ever test flight.

SpaceX's Starship explodes in Texas during preparations for 10th test flight : Read more

 

[newtons_laws]

That's going to delay things a bit before the next Starshio 10th test flight. Also NASA's plans for using a modified Starship for the landing and ascent vehicle on the Artemis III mission to land humans on the Moon again just got further pressure on the timelines (currently stated as mid 2027 having been pushed back already from the previous September 2026 date). At this rate China which plans to have humans on the Moon by 2030 is looking increasingly likely to perhaps beat them to it. Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 crewed lander is scheduled to be ready by 2029.....

 

[George²]

This ship was with mounted pipes for orbital refueling...If I'm not wrong.

 

[contrarian]

It seems there are multiple issues that are still not clear regarding all these failures, but fuel leaks still predominate. Failure during a static test of the upper stage comes as a surprise. A fuel leak as its cause would not be a surprise.

It is probable that the design for it to be reusable, and the enormous size of the rocket and payload is a primary issue for these failures. Complexity tends to breed such problems.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

At least they got it to blow up on the ground this time. Better than during a test flight.

Seems to me they are going to need to test fire the Ship stage for its fill duration while held down, and hope that shows the problem(s).