First SpaceX booster for upgraded Starship fails during test in Texas

WASHINGTON: A towering first-stage booster for an upgraded version of SpaceX’s Starship rocket suffered a predawn testing failure in Texas on Friday, potentially complicating the company’s push to prove the rocket’s moon-landing abilities for NASA, according to observers who captured it on video.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX had rolled the stainless steel booster out to a testing pad on Thursday at the company’s Starbase rocket facilities, saying it intended to test its redesigned propellant systems and structural strength.

During a test on the pad around 4 a.m. CT Friday, a zoomed-in live video feed from SpaceX-watching group LabPadre showed the booster suddenly buckle and release a cloud of gas from its sides, indicating a possible explosion under pressure had blown open its exterior.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the mishap.

The company has faced pressure from NASA to advance its whirlwind Starship development program to a new phase of tests involving features related to the rocket’s future moon landings, a multibillion-dollar pair of missions for the US space agency that would put the first humans on the lunar surface since 1972.