Another SpaceX Starship explosion! Huge fireball during test

ANOMALY! Just before Ship 36 was set to Static Fire, it blew up at SpaceX Masseys!

Live on X and YT:https://t.co/GPjZIX1Zyd pic.twitter.com/CfZhDeSGae

— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) June 19, 2025

Another SpaceX Starship explosion

A SpaceX Starship upper stage exploded during a static-fire test at 11 p.m. local time on June 18, 2025. The vehicle was on the ground at a test site called Massey’s Outpost, located within SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The component being tested – the upper stage – is integral to what would be the world’s largest and most powerful operational rocket, if it could be made to fly correctly. Starship is meant to carry humans to the moon and Mars. It was being prepared for its latest test flight when the explosion occurred. It was the latest in a series of spectacular Starship failures by SpaceX this year.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk long said he will use Starship for the colonization of Mars. According to SpaceflightNow.com:

… In a recent presentation, he suggested the craft could make multiple flights to the red planet as soon as 2026.

No one harmed, but test site status uncertain

After last night’s failure, SpaceX issued this statement:

On Wednesday, June 18 at approximately 11 p.m. CT, the Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase. A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted…

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2025

A static-fire test is one where rocket engines are ignited while the vehicle remains firmly secured to a launch mount. This one was an expected test firing of the vehicle’s six Raptor rocket engines. SpaceflightNow.com reported:

It was unclear how much damage was inflicted to the test stand and other facilities at the Massey site …

Airspace warnings, issued by the Federal Aviation Administration prior to Wednesday’s failure, suggested SpaceX was targeting June 29 for the 10th test flight of the full Starship vehicle with its Super Heavy Booster first stage.

A series of failed Starship tests

SpaceX had performed a single-engine test fire for Ship 36 on June 16 and fired up the 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy Booster for the mission on June 6, SpaceFlightNow reported.

However, earlier this year, three test flights of the Starship upper stage also failed. Flights 7 and 8 both ended with an explosion of Starship’s upper stage as it ascended to space. After a successful ascent on Flight 9 on May 27, the Starship upper stage lost its attitude control and had to be destroyed during reentry. It was unable to accomplish most of the planned in-space test activities.

Starship is integral to NASA’s Artemis program, which hopes to return humans to the moon, possibly in this decade. The first crewed mission, Artemis 2, is scheduled to launch in April 2026, but it will only orbit the moon. The first human landing on the Moon, Artemis 3, is currently targeted for mid-2027. The Human Landing System variant of Starship is supposed to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis 3 mission.

Read more about SpaceX explosions earlier in 2025:

8th Starship launch ends in another colossal blast

Starship Flight Test 9 soars to space, then loses control

Bottom line: A SpaceX Starship upper stage exploded during a static-fire test at 11 p.m. local time on June 18, 2025. The vehicle was on the ground at a test site called Massey’s Outpost, located within SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.