SpaceX’s Subsequent-Gen Starship Booster Explodes Throughout Take a look at

SpaceX rolled out an upgraded model of its megarocket for pre-launch testing, however photos of the next-generation booster present indicators of injury forward of Starship’s first orbital flight early subsequent yr.

On Thursday, SpaceX started the preliminary spherical of pre-launch testing of Booster 18, the primary Tremendous Heavy for Starship’s model 3 that’s set to debut in 2026. Footage obtained of the corporate’s Massey check website in Texas confirmed the booster exploding at its outpost, and an image posted afterward X additionally revealed extreme harm to the rocket’s decrease half the place the liquid oxygen propellant is saved.

Booster 18 appears to have simply exploded throughout testing on the Massey outpost. pic.twitter.com/fmVdYPmWvA

— LabPadre Area (@LabPadre) November 21, 2025

“The primary operations will check the booster’s redesigned propellant programs and its structural energy,” SpaceX wrote on X. The corporate, nonetheless, didn’t touch upon the harm sustained by the rocket throughout its testing.

Larger is healthier?

Final month, Starship model 2 launched for the last time, ending a two-year run on a excessive word with a profitable check flight. The rocket’s second iteration launched on a suborbital trajectory, however SpaceX is now turning its consideration towards the third, bigger model of Starship in preparation for the primary orbital flight.

The subsequent-generation Starship incorporates a bigger automobile that’s able to carrying extra propellant. The rocket may even use a extra highly effective and environment friendly model of its engines, the third-generation Raptor engines. Though Starship’s final two check flights have been a significant success, they did observe a string of failed launches earlier this yr that plagued the rocket’s path to operation. As such, there’s a lot using on the success of the most recent Starship prototype. The brand new model of the rocket is supposed to have a number of upgrades and design fixes to keep away from model 2’s explosive streak.

Earlier in September, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk did admit that as a result of “just about all the pieces modifications on the rocket with model 3,” there shall be a learning curve with the new prototype. The upgraded Starship “may need some preliminary teething pains as a result of it’s such a radical redesign,” he mentioned throughout an interview.

It’s not clear whether or not the obvious explosion of Booster 18 was a mishap or intentional, as SpaceX could have been pushing the rocket to the breaking level—a deliberate failure—to see the way it fares below excessive circumstances. Both manner, SpaceX is on a decent deadline to ship a Starship that may land astronauts on the Moon in 2027 as a part of NASA’s Artemis 3 mission. As a result of delays in improvement, NASA’s appearing head, Sean Duffy, not too long ago revealed that the agency could reopen the Artemis 3 contract to SpaceX’s rivals.

Musk has additionally said that he want to ship an uncrewed Starship to Mars throughout an upcoming launch window subsequent yr. That each one is determined by the next-generation Starship’s capacity to succeed in orbit by subsequent yr and the corporate’s success in studying the right way to fly a much bigger rocket on a brand new trajectory.