SpaceX’s uncrewed Starship explodes on launch attempt

Onlookers watch as SpaceX's Starship take off near Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, April 20.

This test flight was a small step in a grand project. Before Starship can complete its first grand mission or host astronauts, SpaceX has significant technological questions to hash out.

NASA tapped SpaceX’s Starship to serve as a lunar lander, ferrying astronauts from a separate spacecraft down to the lunar surface for the Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled for as early as 2025. Before that mission can take off, however, SpaceX has to prove that Starship can make it to the moon.

The sheer mass of the vehicle will force the company to refuel the spacecraft while it’s still in Earth’s orbit. More than a dozen launches — carrying nothing but propellant — may be required to give a single Starship lunar lander enough fuel to traverse the 238,900-mile (384,500-kilometer) void between the Earth and the moon.

Before SpaceX can even hash out that process, it’ll also need to learn to put Starship into orbit in the first place. Today’s test flight only sought to get to near orbital speeds and make a partial lap of the planet.

CNN’s Jackie Wattles said the launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket gave her an adrenaline rush. Watch the TikTok below to see liftoff — and hear just how loud it was.

Debris is seen in the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District area in Port Isabel, Texas, after the launch of SpaceX Starship on April 20.

After the launch and subsequent midair explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, Rob Nixon said particles fell from the sky on Thursday.

He was about six miles from the SpaceX launch facility, at the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District area in Port Isabel, Texas.

Nixon said the wet particles started falling about four to five minutes after the rocket’s launch and explosion.

He said the particles covered him and his truck.

“When dried, it was more of a dust. It was much finer than our local sand,” Nixon said.

The SpaceX Starship takes off in Boca Chica, Texas on April 20.

SpaceX said its first flight test of Starship put on “quite a show” Thursday as the powerful rocket launched and then exploded midair a few minutes later.

SpaceX said it “learned a tremendous amount” that it will implement into future flights.

The company also thanked its community and the county for supporting the launch.

There have been no injuries or public property damage reported following today’s launch and explosion of SpaceX’s Starship in Texas, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA is responsible for protecting the public during commercial space transportation launch and reentry operations.

Spectators watch from South Padre Island, Texas, as the SpaceX Starship launches for the test flight on April 20.

Karim Iliya, a photographer currently based in Iceland, is one of eight artists and creatives who were selected to join Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on a future Starship launch slated to travel around the moon — a mission called “Dear Moon.”

Today, he watched Starship take off from South Padre Island in Texas.

Iliya added that watching the rocket explode today didn’t give him any extra nerves for his future spaceflight. He understood it was an early fight test and he was essentially watching a prototype take flight.

What did give him a “feeling of intensity” was visiting the rocket shortly after the scrubbed launch attempt on Monday.

He said members of the Dear Moon crew were invited to get an up-close look at the rocket shortly after the scrubbed launch attempt. The vehicle was still venting.

“We heard this very loud sound. Many of us — I think — we’re ready to scramble,” he said.

“That’s when I realized how alive this machine is and how intense it is and will be when we actually strap ourselves in and leave the planet — which is in itself an absurd thought.”

Another future crew member, Yemi Akinyemi Dele, said he has no qualms about going on a future flight.

“I felt like so many things I had to overcome in my life prepared me for being here and being part of this and carry the weight the way it is. … I think it matters, you know, to other kids around the world and to all the creative people that it is artists who are going to fly around the moon,” he said.

Spectators are seen at "The Outpost," a Starship viewing location set up by the local Rocket Ranch, near Boca Chica beach in Texas.

Most of the public at today’s launch watched from South Padre Island, which lies about five miles away from the launch site across the water.

But one group of hardcore fans got a bit closer to see the rocket, which took off from a launch pad on the southern coast of Texas on Thursday at 9:28 a.m. ET, but exploded midair a few moments later.

They gathered at a place aptly named Rocket Ranch — which was created for SpaceX aficionados.

And the camping site — which is just 20 minutes from the launch pad near Boca Chica Beach — is frequented by hobbyists who follow every Starship development with fervid enthusiasm.

When CNN visited on Tuesday ahead of the launch, guests were hanging out in the communal on-site cabin, watching a YouTube channel that streams a view of Starship 24/7. Some of them, engineers in their day job, speculated about the valve issue that plagued Monday’s launch attempt.

Anthony Gomez, a managing partner at the ranch, was the ringleader of the festivities. He hired caterers, checked in the guests that set up tents on free patches of land and reserved buses that trucked the Rocket Ranch guests to a viewing site called “The Outpost.” It lies just 3.8 miles from the launch pad.

The viewing site was so close to the pad that patrons had to sign waivers.

“I voluntarily assume all risks associated with viewing rocket launches on Rocket Ranch property, including the risk of physical and emotional harm,” the waiver reads.

Guests had to arrive by bus on Wednesday evening because the surrounding roads were blocked off ahead of the launch to keep people out of the area. Otherwise, the only way to access “The Outpost” is by a small pontoon boat in the Rio Grande River.

Rocket Ranch guests came from all over the US — states like Colorado and Alabama — and the world, including Canada, France and Germany.

So what was it like to watch Starship launch today?

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket is “a good first step.”

“It looks like they got through the first stage of this big monster rocket. That’s a real accomplishment. We’ll get a report on what happened to the second stage, but I’m very encouraged that they’ve gotten along this far,” Nelson told CNN.

The most powerful rocket ever built took off from a launch pad in Texas on Thursday morning, but it exploded midair before stage separation.

Starship will eventually need to refuel while in orbit, he explained.

Nelson said today’s launch and subsequent explosion doesn’t affect the goal of putting people back on the moon in the next few years.

“This is the way SpaceX goes about. They test this stuff. They run it hard. Sometimes it blows up,” he said.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted after the uncrewed rocket Starship launched and then exploded midair a few minutes later.

He congratulated the company and said the team “learned a lot” in preparation for its next test launch, which he said will happen in a few months.

Some context: SpaceX will need a new launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration to make another attempt, but they do not expect the process to be as laborious as securing the license for this launch.

The SpaceX Starship maneuvers for a second stage separation before exploding on April 20.

SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, took off from a launch pad on the coast of South Texas on Thursday morning.

The uncrewed rocket exploded midair shortly after liftoff — but SpaceX is still celebrating the test.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” SpaceX said in a tweet.

Remember: It’s common for first-time launches to be delayed as engineers hash out issues that might not have become apparent during prior testing.

NASA’s SLS rocket, for example, underwent four tries to complete a wet dress rehearsal and two launch attempts before the vehicle finally took off in November 2022.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX in a tweet on Thursday, adding that “every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk.”

The SpaceX Starship explodes after launch for the flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20.

After liftoff, SpaceX’s Starship exploded in midair on first launch attempt. The most powerful rocket ever constructed is uncrewed.

“Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unplanned disassembly,” an official said on the broadcast.

Some context: SpaceX is known to embrace fiery mishaps during the rocket development process. The company maintains that such accidents are the quickest and most efficient way of gathering data, an approach that sets the company apart from its close partner NASA, which prefers slow, methodical testing over dramatic flareups.

SpaceX's Starship lifts off for the uncrewed test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20.

The countdown clock struck zero and the Super Heavy booster ignited its 33 engines and roared to life, sending a deafening boom across the launch site.  

A brief countdown hold immediately beforehand was for final launch checkouts that included a couple of minor issues, which were quickly resolved.

The flight director has called a hold, and the clock has been paused at T-40 seconds, according to SpaceX.

Spectator wait for the launch of the SpaceX Starship in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, April 20.

The rocket is 85% filled as propellant loading continues, according to SpaceX’s livestream.

The engine chill is underway, SpaceX says, and no boats are in the restricted area.

Winds are “looking good” for launch and the company is not troubleshooting any issues, it said a few minutes ago.

A mural of SpaceX founder Elon Musk at The Broken Sprocket food truck park and bar in Brownsville, Texas, in February 2022.

SpaceX hasn’t received a warm welcome from everybody in the Brownsville area.

Those with homes close to the launch site saw their once remote beach community overrun by SpaceX employees and rocket construction. The company has now purchased the vast majority of the homes in the area once called Boca Chica Village.

When the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, was carrying out an environmental assessment, a public comment period aired the voices of many local residents strongly opposed to the idea, as well as some fervent supporters who weren’t necessarily from the area.

Overall, however, Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño told CNN that he views SpaceX as a massive boon to the area.

CEO Elon Musk pledged to donate around $10 million to an effort to revitalize downtown Brownsville. Treviño said he couldn’t confirm if the full amount had been donated, but he said Musk money has already gone to some key projects, including replacing street lamps. Musk also invested about $20 million in local schools.

SpaceX has also drawn tourism to the area, Treviño said, as evidenced by the massive turnout of spectators Thursday.

Elon Musk walks on stage during SpaceX event in Boca Chica Beach, Texas on August 25, 2022.

From smoking weed on a podcast to entering a battle with federal regulators over a weed joke, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has long had a penchant for embracing the numerical reference to marijuana.

Last week, he even strongly hinted that SpaceX’s first launch attempt on Monday might be delayed so that the company could target a 4/20 liftoff.

Rumors also swirled on Tuesday about whether SpaceX could hit that target. At one point, the Federal Aviation Administration took down an air traffic warning for Thursday, sparking speculation that the favored launch date was off the table. It was ultimately reinstated.

Musk fueled that fire with his own tweet:

People wait before SpaceX's Starship spacecraft launch in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday, April 20.

SpaceX has a livestream of the Starship launch here.

Folks on the ground near SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas can certainly catch an in-person glimpse. Locals are known to line the surrounding beaches in South Padre Island to watch tests, and this launch is sure to draw spectators.

SpaceX has repeatedly warned those in the area, however, to stay away from the “Keepout Zone” — the areas directly surrounding the launch site that have been deemed too close to the rocket to be safe during launch.

The “Keepout Zone” includes the coastline south of South Padre Island and stretches a few miles inland.

SpaceX also issued this warning:

For those around the world hoping to catch views of the rocket in flight — that may not be possible.

Dr. Marco Langbroek, a lecturer at the Department of Astrodynamics and Space Missions of Delft Technical University in the Netherlands, mapped out the rocket’s trajectory and predicts it will fly through too much daylight or the shadow in Earth’s atmosphere to be visible from the ground.

But, folks in Hawaii should be able to see the Starship spacecraft as it plunges back into Earth’s atmosphere after the flight. The reentry process is known to cause spacecraft to light up as the intense speeds and pressure on the vehicle create a fiery blaze.

SpaceX confirmed around 6:30 a.m. CT this morning that it gave the green light for “prop load” or propellant load. The Starship vehicle will be filled up with more than 10 million pounds of fuel and oxidizer.

Fueling got underway about a half hour later.

An American flag blows in the wind as workers prepare the SpaceX Starship rocket ahead of its scheduled launch from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas on April 18, 2023.

SpaceX has a few things to consider before Starship is fully in the clear to launch.

First — there’s always the weather.

During most launches, the US military helps keep track of the weather. That’s true at NASA launch sites on the East Coast and West Coast.

But SpaceX is launching from its own private spaceport on Texas’ southern tip. The company is still receiving some government weather support, but it’s up to the company to make the call on whether to launch. And even if the weather is balmy at the launch site, high-altitude winds or rough weather along the rocket’s flight path could still force a delay

A number of other factors could also derail the launch.

Engineers on the ground will be monitoring data coming in from the rocket all morning. Any blips or identified issues could trigger a scrub.

That’s what happened on Monday when launch controllers spotted a pressurization issue during fueling that was caused by a frozen valve.

And even if the countdown approaches the final moments before liftoff, onboard computers could still detect an issue and bring everything to a halt.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also addressed scrubs during a Twitter Spaces event on Sunday: “There’s a good chance that it gets postponed since we’re going to be pretty careful about this launch.”

SpaceX cleared the final regulatory hurdle standing before the inaugural launch of its Starship rocket last week.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, announced Friday that it granted the company’s request for an uncrewed flight test of the rocket out of the SpaceX facilities in South Texas. The vehicle, which has already undergone preflight ground testing, is poised to take off from the company’s facilities outside Brownsville, Texas — which lies on the state’s southernmost tip.

Some background: SpaceX had been waiting more than a year to get FAA approval for this launch.

The company and federal regulators – tasked with certifying SpaceX launches won’t pose risks to people or property in the area surrounding the launch site – have faced significant pushback from the local community, including from environmental groups.

In June, the FAA granted SpaceX one key approval for launching Starship, though it laid out a list of “mitigating actions” the company would need to take before the first launch.

During a call with reporters this week, an FAA official, who declined to be named for publication, said the agency has been overseeing SpaceX’s compliance with the mitigating actions, some of which are still in the works, even as the launch license is issued.

The FAA official also said government personnel will be on the ground to ensure SpaceX complies with its license during the test launch.