SpaceX Starship explosion: Starship Megarocket Explodes Over Indian Ocean During Ninth Test Flight

SpaceX Starship explosion: SpaceX’s prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday (May 27, 2025), capping another bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of colonising Mars.

The incident dealt a fresh blow to the company’s deep-space ambitions, although engineers say lessons will be drawn to improve future missions.

Mission teams vented fuel to reduce the force of the expected explosion, and onboard cameras cut out roughly 45 minutes into what was meant to be a 66-minute flight — falling short of its target splashdown zone off Australia’s west coast.

Also Read: YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra Knew Her Pakistani Contacts Were ISI Operatives, Say Police

“Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review,” he wrote.

Further, he was also optimistic for the next missions being “faster”, adding: “Launch cadence for next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks.”

Also Read: 4.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Pakistan’s Faisalabad Division

In another quote post later, he added: “Great achievement by the SpaceX team!”

SpaceX later confirmed that the spacecraft experienced “a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” or burst apart. “Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test,” the company said in an online statement.

Notably, SpaceX is schedule to provide NASA with two rockets — one for the Moonshot mission with four astronauts in 2026, and one for the landing mission tentatively dated for 2027.

Also Read: India Approves ₹15,000 Crore Plan for Indigenous 5th-Gen Stealth Fighter Jet, AMCA