SpaceX's first Super Heavy booster for the upgraded Starship V3 was destroyed early Friday during pressure testing at the company's Starbase site in Texas. The booster buckled and vented gas in a sudden blast captured on livestreams, ending the test before teams could move on to structural checks.
The incident adds fresh uncertainty to SpaceX's timeline for its next Starship demonstration, previously aimed for early 2026. The booster was central to NASA's moon-landing program, which depends on a more advanced Starship to support its return to the lunar surface before 2030.
Starship V3 includes a series of redesigns tied to upcoming lunar missions, making the destroyed booster a key hardware loss. It remains unclear whether SpaceX has another V3 unit ready to step in or how long the setback will delay the program.
This follows a year of mixed results for Starship, with early failures giving way to more stable tests before development shifted to the new version. Starbase has seen several testing explosions in recent years, including a blast in June that spread debris across the U.S.-Mexico border and triggered political tensions.
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