Another SpaceX launch crashes and burns, and the eighth mission ends in some degree of failure just like the last one. The SpaceX Starship explosion occurred in Texas this Thursday after the un-crewed ship took to space but couldn’t make it too far after launch. The launch was a big step forward for the team, but the Starship’s test flight failure is the second one in a row after the last launch also ended badly for the SpaceX team. 

The failure of Starship test flight 8 forced the FAA to temporarily halt air traffic in Florida as a result of falling debris after the rocket went to pieces in space. A SpaceX live stream showed viewers the SpaceX Starship disaster in real-time, giving them a look into the “unscheduled disassembly.” Some saw the launch as a disastrous waste of money, while others applauded the agency’s brief space flight as a step forward for mankind. 

SpaceX latest launch

Image: SpaceX’s starship rocket explosion has been received differently by different sections of the population.

SpaceX Starship Explosion: What Happened and What’s Next?

The purpose of the Starship rocket launch was to demonstrate the viability of the launch system for future missions. This time, the Starship was intended to deploy four dummy versions of the space agency’s satellites before landing in the Indian Ocean after approximately 50 minutes. SpaceX eventually plans to have the rockets launch and land at the same spot to facilitate more flights from the same origin, eventually even multiple flights in a day. That goal is still years away.

The 403-foot-tall Starship rocket took off from the Starbase platform in South Texas at 6:30 p.m. EST on March 6. Within minutes, the Super Heavy first-stage booster came back to the base safe and sound, relighting 12 of the planned 13 engines at the start of its landing burn. 

The landing or “retrieval” of the booster was performed through the spindly arms that SpaceX has demonstrated before and set an optimistic tone for the rest of the Starship test flight 8. This achievement was a very big deal and was the third time SpaceX was able to show how the system was still functional.

Unfortunately, after the “Ship” segment continued on into space, some of the Raptor engines on the rocket turned off, causing it to spiral and tumble back down. SpaceX lost contact with the Starship and it soon detonated. Residents in parts of Florida and the Bahamas were treated to a fiery light show as the debris sped back toward the surface.

What Caused the Starship Test Flight Failure?

The failure of the SpaceX rocket test in 2025 is still being investigated by the space agency to narrow down exactly what went wrong with the flight. On Twitter/X, the company offered a statement, “We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.”

In a more elaborate post on the company blog, SpaceX explained the Starship rocket explosion briefly. “Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines.” This caused a loss of altitude control and severed the team’s communication with the Starship. 

Thankfully, despite the loss of communication, the team had a pre–pre-determined contingency plan in place that allowed it to coordinate with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), ATO (Air Traffic Control), and other agencies to minimize any risks back on the ground and in U.S. airspace. The SpaceX Starship explosion did not lead to any casualties or reported damages, but citizens have been critical of the government’s misallocation of funds at a time when cuts are being made in far more critical areas of functioning.

SpaceX test flight failure

Image: Look at her go. No matter how you feel about the SpaceX Starship explosion, you have to admit that the launch was noteworthy.

Was the SpaceX Starship Rocket Explosion a Repeat of Test Flight 7?

Before the SpaceX rocket test in 2025, checks were conducted by the SpaceX team and the FAA to ensure that the rocket was ready for launch. Test Flight 7 had faced similar divided results and ended in an explosion, and checks were made to ensure that the same concerns would not be repeated with this launch. 

The last Starship test flight took place on January 16, 2024, and it had a similar setup. The Super Heavy booster returned safely and was caught by the arms of the launch tower, but the upper section of the Starship faced a propellant leak and exploded. The debris landed in the Atlantic Ocean, leaving behind no damage to human life, although some would say the floating debris in the water was not ideal either.

SpaceX made some significant hardware changes to Starship’s test flight 8 including to the fuel feed lines to vacuum engines, additional vents, and a new purchase system that implemented gaseous nitrogen, to name a few of the modifications. As of now, there is no evidence to suggest that the same issues from the Starship test flight failure have caused the explosion we saw this week. 

What Does the Starship Test Flight Failure Mean for SpaceX?

With the SpaceX Starship explosion having occurred hours ago, CEO Elon Musk has been particularly silent on the matter, retweeting posts about the catching of the Super Heavy booster—which was marvelous—and other unrelated matters. Last year, Musk had expressed a desire to send Starships to Mars by 2026 with crewed flights four years after the fact. In 30 years, we could have a million people mining the planet for all its worth.

From the results so far, these plans remain overambitious and the agency still appears quite a few trials away from turning it into reality, but with NASA and the government under Musk’s wing, it may not be as unattainable when more funds can be driven into a successful launch. Despite SpaceX’s Starship explosion, the agency was able to display some astounding feats of human potential in understanding the physics and mechanism of such a launch, and it likely involved the work of many capable hands.

While SpaceX’s latest launch did not go as planned, for a mission of this scale, there are always risks involved. There is still room to build on the technology so that the SpaceX launch disaster from 2025 is not duplicated with the next mission. 

Starship test flight 8

Image: The live stream of the Starship test flight 8 gave us a very fascinating glimpse into the launch and brief flight of the craft.

What’s Next for SpaceX’s Space Ambitions?

SpaceX has invested heavily in the development of a new integration facility named Gigabay in Florida, next to its HangarX location at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The facility is expected to be significantly larger than the Megabay facilities in Starbase, offering the team more room to grow and build on their projects.

Gigabay provides more than 11 times the square-footage for workspace, 19 additional work cells, and more than twice the crane lifting capacity.

The center should be completed and operational by the end of 2026 and will bolster how much SpaceX can achieve in its space domination plans. Simultaneously, the company is also looking at setting up a co-located manufacturing facility in Florida, similar to the Starfactory in Texas. If that was not enough, SpaceX is also building a launch-and-catch site at the LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center to support the launches in the region. 

Musk’s agency does not appear to be short of resources to keep up with its timeline of sending rockets careening into space, so we’ll have to keep our eyes out for what else the space business gets up to this year. 

SpaceX’s Starship explosion has been received positively by supporters as a sign of progress toward the ultimate goal of colonizing space. How do you feel about the situation? For more updates on the space race and other technology-centric updates, subscribe to Technowize.

tagged in Elon Musk rocket fail, SpaceX latest launch, SpaceX rocket test 2025, SpaceX Starship disaster, SpaceX Starship explosion, Starship test flight 8, Starship test flight failure
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