First night in Turks and Caicos and we’re on the beach and see this.
— KingDomRedux (@KingDomRedux) January 16, 2025
Starship explosion 8 minutes after launch
A Starship prototype – SpaceX’s flagship vehicle, designed to take humans to the moon and Mars – exploded in midair late yesterday (Thursday, January 17, 2025), minutes after its test launch from a beach in south Texas. Other aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico were forced to alter their courses in order to avoid the falling debris, which was seen by beachgoers in the Bahamas, and in Turks and Caicos to the southeast of the Bahamas. And Starship itself was completely lost. Meanwhile, the Super Heavy booster that had launched Starship successfully returned to the launchpad and was caught in midair.
Reuters reported:
SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT).
Photos from our community

What caused the explosion?
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589 on X), who comments frequently on issues related to space launches and spaceflight, did a great job last night describing exactly what happened to Starship.
Back from an intense week at the American Astronomical Society meeting. Much to report and much still to catch up on, but I'll start tonight with an update on the Starship flight
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) January 17, 2025
Also at this point, 2245 UTC, either a RUD or an automated destruct occurred and Ship 33 was destroyed.
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) January 17, 2025
The debris was observed a couple of minutes later over the Turks and Caicos, and would have reentered over the ocean north of Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Is around 2249 UTC. Here is my estimated Ship trajectory pic.twitter.com/PWEi0QzGmY
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) January 17, 2025
At this point, 2245 UTC, the vehicle was in a roughly -3170 x 146 km x 26.4 deg orbit, quite a way from being orbital.
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) January 17, 2025
Starship booster once again caught in midair
Starship booster catch today gives me goosebumps. This is peak human engineering here ? pic.twitter.com/hptG9NhV2B
— Latest in space (@latestinspace) January 17, 2025
Catches: Starship 5 vs Starship 7
What an amazing time to be alive. Such an exciting future ahead. pic.twitter.com/18OiXLu5Vh
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) January 17, 2025
Starship full flight
Bottom line: SpaceX mission launched its newly upgraded Starship late Thursday, but the ship apparently went out of control and exploded minutes after launch. No crew was aboard.
Read more: Observers’ report: SpaceX Starship and electrophonic sounds