Newest Starship booster is significantly damaged during testing early Friday

SpaceX's Starship Booster 18 Suffered Catastrophic Damage During Testing on Friday, Throwing Hurdle in Bid to Land Crews on the Moon by 2028.

A critical stage of testing for SpaceX's upgraded Starship vehicle, designed to facilitate crewed lunar landings and NASA's Artemis program, ended in disaster early on Friday morning. According to footage posted online, Booster 18, the first test stage of the next-generation rocket, experienced a catastrophic failure during pre-launch tests at the Massey Test Site in South Texas.

The incident occurred around 4:04 am CT (10:04 UTC) and appeared to involve an explosive event or implosion that caused significant damage to the lower half of the booster. Images posted by independent observers showed crumpling of sorts on the vehicle's liquid oxygen tank section, with SpaceX officials yet to comment on the incident as of Friday morning.

The failure has left SpaceX reeling at a critical juncture in its ambitious Starship development program, which aims to put humans back on the Moon within the next few years. The success of this endeavor relies heavily on demonstrating booster landing and reuse capabilities, deploying upper stages with precision, and conducting an on-orbit refueling test of the vehicle.

Before Friday's setback, experts viewed SpaceX's timeline as overly ambitious. Nevertheless, the company has a reputation for swiftly addressing failures and getting back to flight operations as soon as possible. As engineers begin analyzing data from the failed test, they are likely already working out the problems and planning their next move.

Losing an entire first stage of a new generation of vehicles during initial testing is undoubtedly a significant blow for SpaceX's Starship program, which has made notable strides in recent years. Nevertheless, this incident highlights the challenges that lie ahead as the company strives to meet its ambitious lunar landing goals by 2028.

I'm really disappointed about this . According to NASA's Artemis program schedule, SpaceX needs to achieve a certain number of successful Starship test flights to demonstrate crew landings and booster recovery capabilities. As it stands now, they've had like 3-4 failed test flights since the beginning of the year .

Here are some stats on Starship's testing progress:
- Successful test flights: 0/8
- Failed test flights: 8/14 (including this latest one)
- Test flight failure rate: 57%
- Number of successful booster recoveries: 0/5

It's not looking good . They'll need to regroup, retest, and re-engineer the entire system ASAP . If they want to meet that 2028 deadline, they'll have to overcome some serious challenges .

Here are some fun facts about SpaceX's testing history:
- The first Starship prototype was destroyed during a test stand collapse
- SpaceX has experienced 11 different type of failures in the past year alone
- If they fail again, it could delay the NASA Artemis program by years

Fingers crossed for them!

Ugh I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Elon and the team at SpaceX ! They're trying so hard to make human space travel a reality, and it's such a huge risk . Losing that booster 18 was super scary ... hope they figure out what went wrong ASAP . My kid is totally fascinated by space exploration, I can only imagine how excited (and nervous) he'd be if SpaceX makes it to the moon !

OH NOOOO I cant believe whats happening to spacex!! theyre so close to making it happen but this is a major setback! i mean booster 18 wasnt even fully tested yet i know the timeline has been a bit ambitious but cmon spacex you can do better than this! at least theyre already working on fixing it tho which is good news

man... this is like, a major bummer esp with how close they were to getting it right ... i mean i was hyped about spaceX finally making it happen but now i'm worried they're gonna miss that 2028 deadline maybe this was just an unavoidable setback tho? idk, i think the timeline was a bit optimistic from the start. still, you gotta admire elon's determination and his team's ability to adapt under pressure

omg what just happened to spacex?? booster 18 suffered catastrophic damage during testing and it's like a major setback for their moon landing plans the timeline was already pretty tight, but i guess they wanted to make sure it works flawlessly... hopefully it's not a case of 'same s**t different rocket' lol anyway, fingers crossed they can fix this quickly & get back on track

what's up with this booster tho? like they're trying to land humans on the moon by 2028 and already have a major fail... how are they gonna fix this? source pls? also, massey test site in south texas sounds sketchy . i'm not buying the "explosive event" thing either. what's really going down here?

So SpaceX had a bit of a wobble with their Starship booster . I mean, you can't blame 'em for being optimistic about gettin' crewed missions on the moon by 2028, but maybe they should've tempered their expectations a notch? Still, gotta give 'em credit - they're already workin' out what went wrong and plannin' their next move. It's like when you try somethin' new at home and it doesn't quite go as planned... you just kinda tweak it and try again, right?

what's going on with spx? they've been so hyped up about landing crew on moon by 2028 now this?? booster 18 gets destroyed during test and all their timeline just went out the window... not saying they're gonna fail but a catastrophic failure is never good news hopefully it was a software issue or something that can be fixed ASAP

OMG what a bummer! I was really rooting for SpaceX to make it happen on the moon by 2028 . I mean, Elon's been talking about this for ages and now this... Booster 18 getting destroyed like that is just crazy talk. They gotta regroup and come up with a new plan ASAP . I'm not saying it's impossible but... this incident definitely raises some red flags . Did they even do enough safety checks before testing? Just asking questions, tbh

The recent catastrophic failure of SpaceX's Starship Booster 18 is a stark reminder of the technical complexities and risks involved in space exploration . While it's concerning, I don't think this setback will derail the entire program entirely – SpaceX has consistently demonstrated its ability to bounce back from similar failures . That being said, the failure does raise questions about the timeline and the level of risk associated with the ambitious goals set for 2028 . It'll be interesting to see how SpaceX's engineers analyze the data and develop a plan to overcome these challenges . The fact that experts initially viewed the timeline as overly aggressive highlights the need for caution in such high-stakes endeavors . Nevertheless, I'm still optimistic about SpaceX's chances of successfully landing crews on the Moon by 2028 .

Oh no Booster 18 was supposed to be a game changer but now it's just a sad story SpaceX is super good at fixing things so fingers crossed they can bounce back , but this is still a major setback for the Starship program. Losing that stage is like losing an entire part of the puzzle and it's gonna take some time to figure out what went wrong . Hope they can get back on track soon

omg what a bummer ... i mean like we've been waiting for spacex to land humans on the moon and now this happens . they were trying to achieve so much in such a short time frame, it's like, super ambitious . but at the same time, you gotta respect their determination & how quickly they bounce back from failures . i'm curious to see what went wrong during that test, is it gonna set them back by a year or two? hopefully not too long . anyway, fingers crossed for spacex's team, they'll get this figured out & make lunar landings happen sooner rather than later

I just heard about this on the news and I'm kinda worried about SpaceX's chances of making it to the moon by 2028 now. They've been working so hard and it seems like they just had a major setback . I mean, it's not like they haven't done this before, but still... Losing that whole booster is a big deal . What if they can't fix it and have to start all over?

omg, this is like super bad news for spacex... i was really rooting for them to land on the moon by 2028 they've been pushing it hard and getting so much attention in the space tech scene. this booster thingy was supposed to be a major milestone but now it looks like they've hit a major roadblock what's gonna happen next? are they gonna delay the mission or try something new? can't wait to see how they bounce back from this

Omg u guys, I was just talking to someone who works at SpaceX and they said the team is already freaking out about this ! Apparently, they had a big meeting last night to discuss what went wrong and now everyone's on high alert . The thing is, they've been saying 2028 is gonna be the year we go to the moon for years now, so it's like, what's the hurry? They're already planning to make some changes to the design and testing process . I'm kinda rooting for them though, because Elon Musk is all about making his vision a reality ...but still, this is a major setback

this is so sad... i was really looking forward to seeing space travel become more accessible and then this happens... does anyone think they'll be able to fix it quickly enough? i remember when Elon said he wanted to land ppl on the moon by 2028... did they underestimate the complexity of the thing?

OMG, I'm literally following this space news and it's getting crazy!!! SpaceX is like trying to solve a puzzle here and I'm rooting for them! But, oh man, losing an entire first stage is HUGE ... like, can they even afford that? Don't get me wrong, the team has been doing some amazing work but this is like a major speed bump . Maybe it's just a minor setback and they'll be back to normal soon?

omg this is like so not what i needed right now lol booster 18 just went up in flames at spacex they're gonna be behind schedule for sure can't believe it happened on friday morning too, was supposed to be a big test day hopefully they get the data from it and learn from the mistakes soon tho

Oh man, it looks like SpaceX is facing some serious setback with their Starship program . I mean, they've been making huge progress and all, but this catastrophic failure of Booster 18 is a major hurdle to overcome . It's just a reminder that space travel is still super rough and unpredictable out there .

I'm curious to see how SpaceX will bounce back from this – they've always been pretty quick on the uptake when it comes to fixing problems . But still, losing an entire first stage of a new gen vehicle during testing? That's not ideal . Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens next