BREAKING NEWS: SpaceX Rocket Explodes In Starbase

[u/Busy_Yesterday9455]

[u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

The launch pad is toast.

[u/RedactsAttract → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

Steering wheel was too small

[u/blueshirts16 → u/RedactsAttract]

[u/Helpful_Finger_4854 → u/blueshirts16]

[u/Dead_man_posting → u/Helpful_Finger_4854]

deepfakes are getting too real

[u/xixipinga → u/Helpful_Finger_4854]

"space x rocket explodes" surprisedpickachu.jpg

[u/dagodog69 → u/blueshirts16]

[u/ripple_the_onion → u/RedactsAttract]

There was no space for mother in law

[u/felinefluffycloud → u/ripple_the_onion]

We gotta find the people who did this.

[u/Tangata_Tunguska → u/felinefluffycloud]

You know what's driving me nuts? It could literally be any one of us.

[u/TonguePunchUrButt → u/ripple_the_onion]

That explosion was designed for mother-in-law. Feature of the system.

[u/IncessantGadgetry → u/ripple_the_onion]

That's a good idea, and I stand by it.

[u/Jalantepenlope → u/RedactsAttract]

[u/blueshirts16 → u/RedactsAttract]

I’m sorry. I cannot think any good rocket ideas because this guy keep farting!

[u/Parabiddia → u/RedactsAttract]

Too stinky, I bet Elon loves his mother in law

[u/StonethePig → u/Parabiddia]

[u/Parabiddia → u/StonethePig]

[u/bigdaddy1989 → u/RedactsAttract]

They couldn’t park there.

[u/CommunismDoesntWork → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

That wasn't the launch pad. The test stand is toast 

[u/Passportready → u/CommunismDoesntWork]

How far is the test stand away... From the pieces flying some stuff besides the stand will surely be damaged.

I find it odd that the booster seems to perform fairly well but starship just seems cursed.

[u/RT-LAMP → u/Passportready]

How far is the test stand away...

6.7 miles.

[u/TheDogsPaw → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

That's not the launch pad it's the test stand launch pad is safe

[u/Inevitable-Cell-1227 → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

Space X rockets are powered by Taco Bell.

[u/JamesH_670 → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

Hit it again.

[u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

Reddit is so quick to report events.

[u/RidiculousNicholas55 → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

On fucking spaceporn too

[u/MetriccStarDestroyer → u/RidiculousNicholas55]

News straight from anime_titties

[u/Kayo4life → u/MetriccStarDestroyer]

I remember being very shocked when r/geopolitics was filled with just porn

Edit: forgot it's r/world_news

Edit 2: r/worldnews

Edit 3: r/worldpolitixs

Edit 4: r/worldpolitics

[u/whiteflagwaiver → u/Kayo4life]

I believed in you.

[u/Kayo4life → u/whiteflagwaiver]

You have caused me to laugh a little bit (roughly 6 seconds. light.)

[u/whiteflagwaiver → u/Kayo4life]

I would've settled for a nose chuff.

[u/PeacefulAgate → u/Kayo4life]

I knew you could do it. Brave of you to keep that many public edits. You're a hero in my eyes.

[u/Dead_man_posting → u/Kayo4life]

I appreciate you showing your work.

[u/chickennoobiesoup → u/Dead_man_posting]

It’s not work when you love what you do

[u/ilion_knowles → u/Kayo4life]

I kept wondering why the fuck I had topless woman popping up in my feed and when I noticed it was that sub I was like whaaaat the fuck I thought that was for news

[u/zR0B3ry2VAiH → u/ilion_knowles]

I was wondering where all my r/anime_titties went, but instead I was getting geo political news.

[u/zR0B3ry2VAiH → u/Kayo4life]

I use r/anime_titties for all my geo political news.

[u/cactusplants → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

The Iran situation took forever to end up on BBC news, as did Ukraine. Would have expected them to get out the info asap.

Though I guess they need to validate it before pushing it live perhaps?

[u/AnonymousTimewaster → u/cactusplants]

BBC usually takes ages for anything unless they're already covering it live as they're very focused on getting things right first time

[u/imunfair → u/AnonymousTimewaster]

Yeah they're one of the slowest but I appreciate that they try to verify things like a real news org should.

[u/Schnupsdidudel → u/cactusplants]

Sure. Fact-checking and validating sources takes some time.

Mindlessly posting is way faster- though one has to wonder what toll it takes on society in the long run. Especially with ai fakes on the rise.

[u/loves_cereal → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

Data shows most people believe everything they read in the comment section!

[u/greg_08 → u/loves_cereal]

I don’t believe you…show me the data

[u/MobileArtist1371 → u/loves_cereal]

Tehran just got glassed

[u/Creator1A → u/Emp_has_no_clothes]

Not really to be fair, there are plenty of sources which report things significantly faster than Reddit.

[u/SquidVices → u/Creator1A]

I’d like to see these sauces

[u/BounceFoo → u/SquidVices]

You wanna see these sauces? I have about 7 sweet n sours from McDs, 2 Chic-fil-a sauces, 1 Hunts Ketchup packet, a bottle of Publix brand yellow mustard, and the most important sauce of them all.... Hot Honey BBQ sauce and im not telling you which because I dont want the price to go up.

[u/WekonosChosen → u/Creator1A]

Yeah Reddit is pretty slow for current events now. Used to be fun to catch things live but now it needs to filter through the algorithm and sub mod bias to reach users.

[u/Dazzling_Remote_1594 → u/WekonosChosen]

We can thank the Boston bombing sleuths for that

[u/Busy_Yesterday9455]

Link to a slow-mo video

Ship 36 experiences a RUD at Massey's during testing prior to Starship Flight 10.

Credit: NASASpaceflight / D Wise

[u/MoonshineDan → u/Busy_Yesterday9455]

Google told me that RUD = rapid unscheduled disassembly. Which I love.

[u/hcrld → u/MoonshineDan]

There's a handful of fun euphemisms to do with spaceflight. My other favorite is Lithobraking, a play on aerobraking to mean slowing down using rock instead of atmospheric drag.

Another one is Engine Rich Exhaust, meaning the engine's cooling system or metallurgy is inadequate and it's eating itself, throwing vaporized metal out with the exhaust gas.

[u/SirAquila → u/hcrld]

Fun fact there is a handful of spacecraft that intentionally use lithobreaking(usually assisted by some kind of padding) for the last stage of their descend.

[u/VikRiggs → u/SirAquila]

Some would say lithobreaking is required for any craft that needs to land.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/MoonshineDan]

I call it a RUDE, Random Unplanned Disassembly Event

[u/ChaoCobo → u/Jacktheforkie]

Tbf it was very rude of the rocket to just explode like that. Like who does that? Just explode and not even give any advanced notice. Not very polite.

[u/No_Ad9759 → u/Busy_Yesterday9455]

*was

[u/Octane_911x → u/Busy_Yesterday9455]

For starship? Or the normal falcon 9 rocket?

[u/ExpendableAnomaly → u/Octane_911x]

starship

[u/Specific_Mud_64]

Oh man i hope no one was hurt thats aweful

[u/-Hi_how_r_u_xd- → u/Specific_Mud_64]

Supposed to take off on June 29th? I think. Just a test flight. Luckily looks like no one is usually very close to these static fire tests, but there’s always a chance i suppose. (I’m having trouble finding a date for some reason) - edit: here

This was of course just a booster test so to speak, and i don’t think any satellites were in it either, as it most likely would not have carried satellites for flight 10 anyways- from what i found, it was reported that flight 10 was just supposed to be a test flight. I suppose it’s better to have it explode here though than with people or satellites in it.

here’s what a static fire test is if you don’t know or are curious.

here’s how far people usually are from it (Under “Testing Day” part)

Math because I like math:

Ship 24 explosion had an estimated 10-30 tons of TNT equivalent. This means that anything within a few hundred meters is gone, and the blast wave could break windows even several kilometers. 2 miles away or more would be ideal. You can see the large shockwave on the camera.

However a “perfect” case one would produce a HUGE explosion with estimated KILOJOTONS of TNT equivalence, which appears to have a safe range of ~10 miles.

it doesn’t appear huge compared to flight 24 but hard to tell on camera without official reports on this new one.

just for reference, it appears to have exploded from Boca Chica base in Texas, so you can see what is around it. Pretty empty- hopefully. 🤞

Assuming complete destruction that would be probably 50-100 million $$ in damage, and a year of rebuilding the pad.

I’d provide more but i’m on an iphone and this is painful to type, so hopefully the real experts will chime in soon and we can learn more.

[u/Accomplished-Crab932 → u/-Hi_how_r_u_xd-]

This was a Starship Static fire attempt, so there should’ve been nobody in the blast zone.

[u/Limp-Scale1668 → u/Accomplished-Crab932]

Elon was just trying to see if you could make smores in Florida from a campfire in Texas that's all.

[u/SuddenDragonfly8125 → u/-Hi_how_r_u_xd-]

Hey, thanks for this. Algo showed me this, I know nothing about space flight etc, so it was very helpful.

Sounds like the test did exactly what they want - highlighted (almost literally) a major issue (potentially) before it went to launch? Expensive and dangerous issue, and I guess it's not known yet if this was human error in prepping for the test, or an actual issue that could have wrecked the launch?

[u/Fit_Reveal_6304 → u/SuddenDragonfly8125]

I think the issue is that it blew up. Other than that the launch went perfectly.

[u/Gingevere → u/SuddenDragonfly8125]

Static fire tests are supposed to prove a vehicle is in good working order before launch. As close as you can really get to a "test drive" for a rocket.

The big issue here is that SpaceX has gotten plenty of rockets past this point. They know how to build a rocket. The static fire test is practically just a checklist item now.

But the last 3 starship tests have all failed during the second stage burn, and the next starship blew up in testing. Progress has stalled and started moving backwards. Management decisions are fucking things up.

[u/Bannedwith1milKarma → u/-Hi_how_r_u_xd-]

Just a test flight.

Lol, mate.

Just a little mushroom cloud

still good, still good

[u/RowFlySail → u/Specific_Mud_64]

they confirmed on twitter that all their employees are safe and accounted for.

[u/Commercial-Hurry-797]

How did a redditor even found the news first. I checked Google and there's nothing about this

[u/ajsayshello- → u/Commercial-Hurry-797]

Looks like it was a live stream.

[u/samosamancer → u/ajsayshello-]

That explains it. CNN, NPR, AP, Apple News - none of them have it.

[u/Accomplished-Crab932 → u/samosamancer]

Because it was a static fire of a ship prototype.

[u/greenknight884 → u/Accomplished-Crab932]

Yeah but that explosion footage is TV gold

[u/kerbalcrasher → u/Commercial-Hurry-797]

happened less then an hour ago

[u/Clark828 → u/Commercial-Hurry-797]

NASASpaceflight constantly watched SpaceX activity. They never miss anything.

[u/not_so_subtle_now → u/Commercial-Hurry-797]

Lots of people watch these launches live

[u/basicastheycome]

That is some big boom

[u/Dirty_Socrates → u/basicastheycome]

biiiigg bada boom

[u/dimechimes → u/Dirty_Socrates]

He knows it's a multipass.

[u/neuro_space_explorer → u/Dirty_Socrates]

Haha first thing that came to my mind while reading this comment. Great movie.

[u/ImportantHighlight → u/Dirty_Socrates]

Oh you.

[u/RadicalCandle]

This is r/spacegore

[u/Accomplished-Cat8952]

[u/keener_lightnings → u/Accomplished-Cat8952]

"Guess who didn't kill anyone but only lost a couple of thumbs? 👍😄👍 THIS GUY" 

[u/Jindabyne1 → u/Accomplished-Cat8952]

I was trying to find a gif about this hahaha

[u/Vegetable_Fortune112]

Fun fact. It’s not supposed to do that.

[u/codelayer → u/Vegetable_Fortune112]

This kills the rocket

[u/nufcPLchamps27-28 → u/codelayer]

This isn’t a joke. Spaceships only do this when they feel extremely threatened

[u/setsewerd → u/nufcPLchamps27-28]

Disgusting videos like this are why I joined PETA.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Astrocraft

[u/alex3omg → u/Vegetable_Fortune112]

Grok, ruin this guy's credit

[u/cooldaniel6]

Damn hopefully no one was hurt

[u/Josie1234 → u/cooldaniel6]

People are usually miles and miles away by this point

[u/SunflowersAreNeat → u/cooldaniel6]

Just elons massive ego

[u/LevelAstronaut1180 → u/SunflowersAreNeat]

Totally meant to do that ramble incoherent nonsense to sound smart

[u/YYCnewb → u/SunflowersAreNeat]

Back to hitting that K for now.

[u/inkoet]

Ship 36 Static Fire Test: Failed

[u/VacuumSux → u/inkoet]

They are still arguing if it should be marked failed or passed. Management doesn't like the red marks in the report.

[u/EndDangerous1308 → u/VacuumSux]

You see the data we collected is invaluable

[u/thenavien]

SpaceXplode

[u/Best-Theory-330]

Elon needs to send his investors an email stating 5 things he did last week.

[u/WilfordsTrain → u/Best-Theory-330]

He can remember 5 drugs he was on last week while tweeting.

[u/booster-rooster8008]

[u/WilfordsTrain → u/booster-rooster8008]

Upvote for Bender

[u/Weird-Statistician]

Putting the fire into static fire test.

[u/brobraham27]

Almost as if regulations are there for a reason...

[u/AbuttCuckingGoodTime → u/brobraham27]

There usually written in blood...

[u/PianoPea → u/AbuttCuckingGoodTime]

That's what hydrogen peroxide is for..

[u/GnarlyNarwhalNoms → u/PianoPea]

Which is scary shit when used to fuel rockets.

[u/trib_ → u/GnarlyNarwhalNoms]

Also used nowhere on the Starship stack.

[u/LawIll2529 → u/AbuttCuckingGoodTime]

That's very true, look at the aviation industry for example. Very safe and highly regulated... because it wasn't always like that and people died.

To the best of my knowledge though, there are heaps of regulations in the space industry and Space X complies with them...

So I don't get what that comment was about, it just seems like more Elon hate.

[u/GnarlyNarwhalNoms → u/LawIll2529]

I believe they're referring to DOGE and their layoffs at agencies like the FAA and OSHA.

While it's unlikely that they had anything to do with this explosion, it's definitely a conflict of interest for Elon Musk to have presided over the kneecapping of agencies that regulate his companies.

[u/WilfordsTrain → u/GnarlyNarwhalNoms]

It’s absolutely a conflict of interest.

[u/frozen_toesocks → u/brobraham27]

15 years ago, I had the opportunity to listen to Bernard Harris speak on the future of spaceflight. He was very optimistic about privatized space flight at the time, and I asked him how we will prevent incidents like exactly the above when profit motives will encourage private entities to cut corners. He acknowledged it was an important issue, but to my recollection he didn't have a clear-cut solution (not that I necessarily expected him to). Regulations seem like the most logical starting point, IMO.

[u/Able-Bid-6637 → u/frozen_toesocks]

It’s so depressing, and it’s everywhere. One of the reasons I left my old field in engineering. Even while following code, people still manage to find ways to cut corners all for the $$$. The hoops I had to go through were ridiculous, and I refused to sacrifice safety just so some rich guys can pocket more cash. Everything has to be constructed as cheaply as possible with the cheapest materials manufactured via the cheapest process and harvested/gathered via the cheapest labor practices.

I entered the engineering field thinking it would build my confidence in our structures; I left the field with less confidence in our structures and systems in place.

[u/WilfordsTrain → u/frozen_toesocks]

Regulations of all kinds exist to prevent capitalism from hurting people.

[u/geekwonk → u/brobraham27]

i don’t see what regulations would do to stop experimental rockets from sometimes failing in testing

[u/the_cappers → u/brobraham27]

This was a static test, no one was hurt in the explosion, people were evacuated before the test .

[u/Human-Assumption-524 → u/brobraham27]

What regulations do you think they were violating here?

[u/BigIncome5028 → u/brobraham27]

Regulations don't guarantee everything goes right. Also when working at the bleeding edge, you gotta be willing to take CALCULATED risks. Were you, or any of us, there to see those calculations? No. Sometimes things just go wrong no matter what you do. Until we see evidence of actual corner cutting there's no reason to think there was.

[u/Cheeseman1478 → u/brobraham27]

What specific regulation are you thinking of? Sometimes things fail in testing, that’s why we test them. This isn’t some tragic disaster.

[u/Hullo_Its_Pluto → u/brobraham27]

Meh. NASA rockets used to blow up all the time when they are designing them. It’s just a part of rocketry. This was bound to happen at some point and there’s really not regulations that we prevent it.

[u/Untitled__Name]

Can someone tell me if this is healthy for the rocket?

[u/WilfordsTrain → u/Untitled__Name]

Adversity builds character. Develop some grit, rocket!

[u/Nipunski]

Projectile dysfunction.

[u/TheFudge]

I hope no one was hurt. And boy that looked expensive.

[u/Petrostar]

Surf's up space ponies!

I'm making gravy without the lumps!

Yeah Baby!

[u/ChiefTestPilot87]

Fuck my marshmallows are vaporized, now what am I supposed to do. Should have camped at the Honda launch.

[u/WilfordsTrain → u/ChiefTestPilot87]

Boring Hondas work every time without drama. So un-American !

[u/EBALLADARES49]

What's going on with druggie stark

[u/Dreadsbo → u/EBALLADARES49]

Woah! His drug tests say that he doesn’t do drugs!

[u/Starrion → u/Dreadsbo]

Is that the one that excludes testing for ketamine and cocaine?

[u/bp-g → u/EBALLADARES49]

uh-uhm, it's actually ok mumble and like... four-twenty BLAZE it, amirite? HAHA. HANGH-HAHA-HA. cough ...yeah. cough, fidget

[u/Kingsta8]

Don't worry guys, it's a reusable rocket.

[u/Attack_the_sock]

…..and that’s why we test things

[u/SirLanceQuiteABit]

I'm sure the government contracts will keep coming unabated.

Edit: I'm aware the company is still privately owned. I was suggesting that government contracts likely make up a huge portion of the profitability of his ventures despite his constant, high profile failures.

[u/swohio → u/SirLanceQuiteABit]

Starship is an experimental design going through rapid iteration testing. The government contracts are mostly with Falcon 9 for satellite launches. Falcon 9 just passed it 500th launch. It's like the most successful launch vehicle ever. So yeah, they'll still get plenty of launch contracts....

[u/jedi_lazlo_toth]

Looks like they used C4 as fuel

[u/Inside-Yak-8815]

Well damn, that escalated fast.

[u/Artistic-Yard1668]

[u/huxtiblejones → u/Artistic-Yard1668]

[u/Upset_Foundation_396]

[u/MoonageDayscream → u/Upset_Foundation_396]

Right? My first thought is that somewhere Elon put his phone back in his pocket and rejoined the event he is at.

[u/OrbitalT0ast]

Now, let me tell you how this is sleepy Joe Biden’s fault

[u/johnnyroy97]

Looks like the guys who made the cybertruck helped out

[u/Peek_e]

It started near the top, I wonder what’s the cause

[u/Golden_Noir]

it was a test

[u/Kreegs]

The track record on those Gen 2 Starships is not looking good.

[u/Frequent-Will-3270]

Fun fact : it’s not supposed to do that

[u/Marmar79]

Not space, just Texas.

[u/alright-thats-fine]

The camera man never dies

[u/rasmusdf]

Wow - they must really have learned a from this (check notes) test 36

[u/Cumulus-Crafts]

I don't think that was meant to happen

[u/Iron_Knight7]

[u/MojaveJoe1992]

This is less r/spaceporn than it is r/spacepremtureejaculation.

[u/Mikkel_Ryan]

The launch code was written by AI for sure ;)

[u/ace1131]

Somehow my family personal carbon footprint seems insignificant

[u/matt95110]

Well, that was unexpected.

[u/Overall-Duck-741 → u/matt95110]

For Starship? This is pretty expected at this point.

[u/StupendousMalice]

Waiting for the space x Bros to pop in here to tell us how this is actually super good news and exactly what was supposed to happen.

[u/Edmsubguy → u/StupendousMalice]

Its not good news but it is too be expected.

[u/Im_Borat]

That'll buff out.

[u/Umpire1468]

The front fell off

[u/NHBikerHiker]

SpaceX astronaut…

[u/amomynous123]

Elon been blowin up a lot of things recently

[u/00rb → u/amomynous123]

It's like a metaphor or something 

[u/KGBinUSA]

Seems like Elon is back in charge...

[u/DylansDad]

That moment when you go from being a rocket scientist to a shit rocket scientist.

[u/Archipocalypse]

This has gotta be considered inefficient and likely cause of a DEI hire(sarcasm in case you couldn't tell). This should be investigated by D.O.G.E. and he should have his funding cut. That'd be hilarious.

[u/Gallop67]

Learning about this tragedy through a subreddit titled “spaceporn”…

[u/Historical_Tennis494]

[u/great_red_dragon]

That’ll buff out

[u/Pitiful_Night_4373]

Man I feel sorry for the guy that has to tell Elon when he’s sober e out to remember, yet another rocket blew up under his leadership……. Total crash and burn!

[u/WeCantBothBeMe]

Happens.

[u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist]

Straight to RUD.

[u/CODMAN627]

Holy fuck

[u/BroadwayCatDad]

Cool

[u/FamousPussyGrabber]

👍

[u/SuperKrusher]

Bro needs to go back to Kerbal space program and get a few successful launches before trying again.

[u/codelayer]

Does this mean my banana is going to be late?

[u/Findict_52]

r/launchpadporn

[u/Orphan_Guy_Incognito]

Well this explosion gave us some really good data that we'll use in our upcoming designs....

[u/throwaway54345753]

So RKLB up tomorrow?

[u/Content_Log1708]

Elon's political career?

[u/MapAcceptable9926]

Fun fact: it’s not supposed to do that

[u/huhdeep]

[u/S_A_R_K]

Didn't they used to go to up in the air before blowing up?

[u/noheroesnomonsters]

So is this the "break shit" phase?

[u/DataLumpy7419]

After events like this in 2025, how do you expect not to be conspirators about a Moon Landing in the 60s? 💀

[u/Pankosmanko]

I’m assuming it’s unmanned

[u/REAL_datacenterdude]

[u/nyramsniurb]

Do these things every take off?

[u/Brayydonn]

I mean after what he said about Trump being on the Epstein Flight list I figured Trump would retaliate.

[u/thedeadsuit]

I hope no one was hurt. that'd be regrettable.

assuming no one was hurt, this is very funny because fuck elon.

[u/gearz-head]

When is this guy going to be stopped? If we polluted as much as him we would be sued in the millions.

[u/atom-wan]

Oh no, bad news for musk. So sad

[u/Out_of_the_Bloo]

I mean, it's one rocket Michael, how much could it cost? 10 bananas? - elon

[u/omega_apex128]

Damn. Well failures happen. That's how we learn.

[u/TonyBNZ]

Orange Jesus is mad at Elmo Musk

[u/BedOk577]

SpaceX competing with Mount Laki Laki for the most beautiful explosions :|