Watch: SpaceX test flight explodes over Caribbean skies, witnesses call it ‘spectacular’ view

Elon Musk owned SpaceX conducted its 7th test flight from its Starbase launch site near Brownsville, Texas. The test flight exploded and ended in flames less than ten minutes after its launch and its debris was spotted over the Caribbean islands of Exuma and the Turks and Caicos Islands.  

The flight was launched on Thursday (January 16) at 4:47 pm CST in an aim to pave the way for humans to reach Mars, however, the mission has been confirmed as a failure, with the aircraft breaking apart mid-flight. This caused debris to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, creating a spectacular show over the Turks and Caicos Islands.  

"Rapid unscheduled disassembly" is the best understated euphemism I've seen for "exploded" in ages. Actually laughed out loud when I read that. Masterful.

The descent stage was particularly beautiful, though. Like an apocalyptic meteor shower, or an alien invasion. https://t.co/e0EhG1IPCL pic.twitter.com/nr5TAefjiG

— John Carter (@martianwyrdlord) January 17, 2025

Reportedly, around eight minutes after the take-off, SpaceX lost contact with the craft named Starship’s upper stage known as ‘Ship’. The 171-foot-tall upper stage disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean.  

Following the explosion, SpaceX said that there were no astronauts onboard the test flight mission and that the rocket utilised is a new version of the Starship.  

Despite the failure, SpaceX achieved a significant milestone by successfully catching the rocket’s first booster for the second time. The company has confirmed the event and is analysing the date to improve future test flights. 

What caused SpaceX’s test flight to explode? 

While the exact cause of the malfunction is unclear at the moment, the company confirmed that the spacecraft experienced what they termed as a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly.’ A R.U.D is a rocket breaking up or exploding during flight.  

The footages going viral on social media showcases Starship traveling in the sky and then exploding. The ship seems to be engulfed in flames during its flight before exploding in a ball of flames, which is characteristic of its methane propellant. 

The visuals on social media suggested that the upper stage ship of the spacecraft disintegrated during flight somewhere over the Dominican Republic. Witnesses described the resulting explosion as an amazing display in the sky.  

Taking to X, the company confirmed that teams will continue to review data from the test flight to better understand root cause. It added that with a test like this, success comes from what they have learnt, and the flight will help them improve Starship’s reliability.  

Also, the owner of the company, Elon Musk said that an oxygen or fuel leak in the cavity may have occurred above the ship engine firewall. 

Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.

Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 17, 2025

He added that so far none of the company’s findings would have them push the next launch past next month.