The first stage of the vehicle, known as the Super Heavy Booster 7, is the part with 33 rocket engines that will in the future launch the second stage of the Starship spacecraft, the largest rocket ever built, into orbit. This second stage of Starship, which will transport thousands of Starlink satellites to space, was not yet on the booster when it exploded.
Musk had expressed hope that Starship would conduct its first space flight as a test in July, but that has become uncertain due to the explosion of the booster.
The video footage shows a large fireball after the explosion. An hour later smoke was still coming from the booster. Gizmodo said it is not yet known if anyone was injured in the blast.
The blast happened around the same time that NASA and US President Joe Biden showed the first color image taken by the James Webb telescope.
SpaceX currently carries cargo and astronauts to and from the International Space Station, but the company’s goal is to facilitate the colonization of the planet Mars. Starship must become the vehicle that ‘set foot’ on the red planet. The rocket should also enable commercial flights to the moon.