"If NASA had the failure rate SpaceX does, Elon Musk would be firing everyone and Congress would be demanding to know where the money is going."
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft tumbled and exploded in space on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, dooming an attempt to deploy mock satellites in the second consecutive failure this year for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.
Elon Musk’s ambitious Starship program faced another setback on Thursday, as the massive spacecraft exploded just minutes after launching from Boca Chica, Texas. The mission failed, but stunning videos captured the dramatic event and flooded social media.
SpaceX's Starship launcher spun out of control minutes after liftoff Thursday, showering fiery debris over the Bahamas and dealing another setback to Elon Musk's rocket program after a failure under similar circumstances less than two months ago.
SpaceX’s Starship exploded at the launch site in Boca Chica, Texas after takeoff in the second launch failure of 2025 for Elon Musk space exploration programme.
SpaceXs ambitious Starship programme faced another major setback as its eighth test flight ended in failure. The spacecraft, designed for deep-space missions, lost control minutes after reaching space,
"The light show was completely silent — we didn’t hear anything. But the reflection on the water from the burning debris was quite pretty!"