SpaceX was still investigating the failure of Starship 9 on May 27, when Starship 10 exploded in a dramatic fireball in the night sky on June 18 while still anchored to the ground at the Starbase complex in south Texas. The explosion happened during a routine test firing of engines called a “static fire” on the second stage of the rocket. This same ship test-fired one of the six engines on the second stage in an earlier test, but some suspect that all six engines were expected to fire during that earlier test.
There were no injuries, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk characterized the explosion as “just a scratch” in a post on his X account. Musk is behind schedule for a 2027 NASA mission to the Moon. However, his devil-may-care speed may not be motivated by NASA timelines, but by his personal ambition to skip the Moon and send the Starship directly to Mars. Musk would like to change the agenda of NASA. He has spoken of sending a robot to Mars by 2026, when the Earth and Mars will be closer, thus making an easier flight, and sending humans on a one-way trip to Mars in 2029.
In January, Musk called the NASA mission to the Moon a “distraction” in a post on X and criticized the NASA Artemis program saying, “Something entirely new is needed.” In February Musk said that the International Space Station has “served its purpose” and should be mothballed at an accelerated pace.
