SpaceX rocket experiences 'rapid unscheduled disassembly' during test flight

An unmanned SpaceX rocket on Tuesday broke apart nearly an hour into the flight, marking the latest setback for the aerospace company.

The latest disassembly marked the third time that a SpaceX rocket exploded during test flights. The first incident occurred in January, and the second occurred in March, which saw the rocket disassemble just minutes after take-off.

SpaceX confirmed the mishap in a post on X, stating that Starship experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" after it launched from the Starbase headquarters in Boca Chica, Texas. 

"Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test," the company said. "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 multiplanetary."

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the mission was a big improvement, despite the explosion, because it had achieved its scheduled ship engine cutoff before disassembling.

"Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent," he wrote. "Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review. Launch cadence for next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.