STORY: SpaceX called it a ‘major anomaly’…
One of Elon Musk’s giant Starship rockets has exploded again.
This eyewitness video released Thursday shows the moment of the incident, which occurred late at night the day before.
SpaceX says the explosion happened during preparations for the rocket’s tenth test flight.
It said no personnel were injured, and it had teams working to ensure safety in the area surrounding the site in Brownsville, Texas.
The firm said there was no hazard to local communities, but asked people not to approach the area.
It’s all the latest setback for Musk’s ambitions to mount a mission to Mars.
And it adds to a very bad year for the Starship program.
In January, one of the rockets broke up after launch, raining debris over the Caribbean.
In March, one exploded in space, forcing aviation watchdogs to halt air traffic over parts of Florida.
Then in May, another one spun out of control halfway through its mission.
Posting on X, Musk said the new failure appeared to be connected to an onboard nitrogen gas storage system.
Now it all comes at a bad moment for the billionaire, after his spectacular public falling out with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Reuters sources say the White House subsequently ordered the Defense Department and NASA to conduct a review of their multi-billion dollar contracts with SpaceX.
