Elon Musk calls incident, “Just a scratch,” on X early Thursday morning. No injuries reported following explosion at Starbase facility in Texas. (Credit: LabPadre via Storyful)
SpaceX’s Starship exploded Wednesday night during a test at SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
Around 11 p.m. local time Wednesday, “the Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase,” SpaceX said in a post on X.
“A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” the company said. “Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials. There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue
The rocket’s explosion was caught on camera by several livestreams of Starbase.
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SpaceX’s Starship 36 suffered a catastrophic failure and exploded just after 11 p.m. CT on June 18, 2025. (LabPadre / Storyful)
Cameron County Constable Precinct 1 shared a NASASpaceflight stream on his Facebook page.
“Whoa! Whoa! No,” a man can be heard saying once the explosion happened. “Oh, my God.”
The caption at the bottom of the stream read: “SpaceX is expected to perform a static fire test of ship 36. The second in this series of testing for flight 10.”
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Smoke surrounds the explosion site of a SpaceX rocket on June 18, 2025 at Starbase in Cameron County, Texas. (LabPadre / Storyful)
A sign pointing towards Starbase is seen on the road outside Brownsville, Texas on May 28, 2025. (SERGIO FLORES/AFP / Getty Images)
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appeared to shrug off the incident in a post on X Thursday morning.
“Just a scratch,” he said.
