Elon Musk Speaks Out After SpaceX's Starship Explodes During Test Flight

Minutes after SpaceX's Starship launched on April 20, the rocket "experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation," the company tweeted. Read CEO Elon Musk's message.

By Jess Cohen Apr 20, 2023 3:12 PMTags
Watch: Elon Musk SPEAKS OUT After SpaceX Explosion

SpaceX is going back to the drawing board. 

During a test flight in Texas on April 20, the company's Starship rocket exploded minutes after its launch. "As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation," SpaceX said in a message posted to Twitter moments after the explosion. "Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight 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," the company's note continued. "Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship!"

SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk was on site for the launch of Starship—which did not have any people onboard—and is also keeping a positive outlook, despite the explosion. "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship!" he tweeted. "Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."

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According to NBC News, SpaceX's Starship—is "set to play a key role in NASA's Artemis program, which plans to put humans on the moon in 2025."

SPACEX HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

The rocket was scheduled for a 1.5-hour trip on April 20 before the explosion occurred.

PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

Starship was initially set to launch earlier this week on April 17 but the mission was called off at the last minute due to an unexpected glitch.

An exact date for the next test launch has not yet been shared publicly.

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