The upper block of the SpaceX Starship spacecraft, which was being prepared for the company's next flight, exploded 19 in June during preparation for static fire tests.
On video from such sources, like NASASpaceFlight.com, visible, as a device called "Ship 36» exploded, Being on the Messi Playground test stand, that in a few kilometers west larger Starbase databases, Antonov Airlines Ukrainian Airline.
"June 19, 07:00 in the morning Kyiv summer time, Starship, who was preparing for the tenth flight test, experienced a serious anomaly at the Starbase test stand", - says the SpaceX statement about 90 minutes after the incident. Throughout the entire operation, a controlled zone was maintained around the site, all personnel are safe.
The company added, that cooperates with local officials, and that there is no danger to humans. SpaceX did not provide any other details about the explosion. It happened during the preparation of the ship for static fire tests, to that, as he started his Raptor engines.
Explosion, probably, started at the top of the vehicle, as evidenced by the broken collection tanks located there. Immediately before the explosion, a cloud of condensate appeared in the upper part of the ship.
The explosion added another setback to Starship development. SpaceX plans to use it as an upper stage for the next test flight, known as Flight 10. In the recommendation of the Federal Administration of Civil Aviation from 18 it was noted in June, that Flight 10 can happen already 29 June, though SpaceX still needs FAA approval before attempting a launch.
The last three Starship flights, which occurred using the upgraded version, failed. During Flight 7 in January, a harmonious reaction, much stronger, than expected, strained the elements of the ship's propulsion system, causing a fuel leak, which led to fires. Launch Flight 8 in March, it failed at almost the same stage of lifting the apparatus, but this time due to an unspecified hardware failure in the Raptor engine, which caused several other engines to fail.
Flight 9, which took place 27 May, completed the climb, avoiding previous flight problems, however suffered a fuel leak, resulting in loss of orientation control and uncontrolled reentry into the atmosphere and destruction of the ship.
Test stand explosion raises new concerns about Starship development. To a series of failures, that started with the flight 7, SpaceX, it seemed, made steady progress, providing the ship with a gentle landing in the Indian Ocean. in addition, the super-heavy launch vehicle also successfully completed three return flights.
Source: https://spacenews.com