SpaceX Starship Ship 36 Explodes During Test | Shocking Fireball at Starbase Texas | NEWSDRIFT

On June 18, 2025, SpaceX’s Starship prototype Ship 36 exploded in a dramatic fireball during a late-night static fire test at the Starbase facility in Cameron County, Texas. The explosion startled nearby residents and raised fresh questions about the safety and future of Elon Musk’s ambitious Mars and Moon missions. This video covers what happened during the test, what went wrong, and what it means for the future of the Starship program.

Watch to get the full story behind the Ship 36 explosion, the status of the Starship program, and how this impacts upcoming missions like Artemis. No injuries were reported, but the blast destroyed the prototype and damaged infrastructure. Will this delay future launches? What is SpaceX doing next?

Stay tuned as we analyze SpaceX’s response, technical details, and what’s next in humanity’s journey to space.

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spacex, spacex explosion, starship explosion, starship ship 36, starship static fire, spacex news, spacex starbase, elon musk spacex, starship fireball, spacex june 2025, spacex mars rocket, artemis mission, nasa spacex, space news

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On the night of June 18th, 2025, a massive fireball lit up the skies above Cameron County, Texas. The explosion wasn’t caused by a storm or an accident on the highway—it came from SpaceX’s Starbase facility, where the company was testing the next prototype of its ambitious Starship rocket. This dramatic event has once again drawn global attention to the risks and rapid pace of innovation behind Elon Musk’s space ambitions.

The prototype, known as Ship 36, was part of SpaceX’s ongoing development of the Starship system—designed to be the most powerful and fully reusable rocket ever built. Starship is central to SpaceX’s long-term goals, including colonizing Mars and partnering with NASA for future Artemis moon missions. But before any of that can happen, the company needs to get through a challenging test campaign. And this week’s explosion was a vivid reminder of just how complex and dangerous that process can be.

It all happened just before midnight, local time. Engineers at Starbase were conducting what’s known as a static fire test. In this procedure, the rocket is held firmly to the ground while its engines are fired, allowing teams to gather data on engine performance, fuel flow, and ground support systems. Ship 36 was in the middle of such a test when something went very wrong. As cryogenic liquid methane and liquid oxygen were loaded into the tanks, a sudden anomaly occurred—resulting in a powerful explosion that completely destroyed the vehicle.

Eyewitnesses in nearby towns like Port Isabel and South Padre Island reported seeing a blinding flash followed by a thunderous boom. Video footage shows the test stand engulfed in flames, with debris scattered across the site. While the explosion looked catastrophic, SpaceX confirmed that no personnel were injured. All staff were safely outside the designated blast radius—a standard safety measure during risky operations like static fires.

This event marks yet another setback in the Starship program, which has faced several upper-stage failures in recent months. In fact, the last three flight tests—numbered 7 through 9—also ended in explosions. While those failures happened in the air during ascent or reentry, this latest incident occurred while the vehicle was still on the ground. It adds to a growing list of issues that SpaceX must address before it can move forward.

Ship 36 wasn’t just another prototype. It represented a significant step forward in design—what SpaceX internally refers to as the “V2” Starship. This version featured improvements in propellant capacity, structural mass, and manufacturing efficiency. The goal is to make Starship not just powerful, but also cost-effective and reliable enough for frequent launches. A future “V3” version is already in development, aiming for weekly flight cadence, but incidents like this delay that vision.

The explosion also casts doubt on the upcoming tenth flight test, which had been tentatively scheduled for June 29th. With Ship 36 now destroyed and the Massey test stand possibly damaged, it’s unclear whether the timeline can be maintained. SpaceX will need to conduct a full investigation, recover the site, and likely switch to a different prototype for future testing.

Still, it’s important to put this in perspective. SpaceX has always embraced a rapid test-and-fail approach to rocket development. The company argues that failures, especially uncrewed ones, are valuable learning opportunities that accelerate progress. This philosophy is what enabled the Falcon 9 to become the world’s most reliable orbital rocket after its own rocky start. The same playbook is now being applied to Starship.