Watch: SpaceX’s “Starship” Explodes On Launch Pad During Routine Pressurization Test

When the world first caught a glance of SpaceX’s “Starship” super rocket, many joked about it looking like an abandoned grain silo wrapped in tin foil. 

OK, we admit. That was mostly us joking that it looked like an abandoned grain silo wrapped in tin foil. But look at it…

Now it turns out that had it actually been an abandoned grain silo, it may have performed better during SpaceX’s pressure test of the “vehicle” that was held right before the weekend. 

Instead, the product of Elon Musk innovation wound up blowing up on the launch pad at the company’s South Texas facility, after being tested for pressure with inert liquid nitrogen. The photographs from the morning after show the extent of the damage on the rocket, which we’re certain will not be reused. 

Initial reports claim that the tank may have suffered a structural failure during pressurization and information about injuries and the extent of the damage was not readily available from SpaceX. The protoype ship was designed only for an “initial round of tests”, according to Yahoo News, who said that future prototypes would be used for more ambitious tests.

But judging by the streaming video of this test, SpaceX has a long way to go. Next Spaceflight’s Michael Baylor  said on Twitter:

“Test, fail, fix, test, fail, fix is SpaceX’s game. They will learn from it and get it right.”

Streaming video caught the Starship N1 tank popping and imploding as the ship flew into the air, before crashing back down to Earth. 

Social media skeptics of Elon Musk couldn’t help but say “I told you so”. We wonder if Tesla skeptics will have a similar day at some point soon.

As predicted, it blew up within days.

You are witnessing one of the greatest blunders in Aerospace history as experts watch 1 man desperately attempt to further his dangerous fraud leading to multiple predictable catastrophic failures. https://t.co/3LMqbvMdlb pic.twitter.com/xfBc1VnLZu

— EVent Horizon (@evdefender) February 29, 2020