“A safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for,” SpaceX assured in the statement.
The cause of the explosion is currently under investigation. The Starship system, which SpaceX is developing as a next-generation launch vehicle capable of carrying humans and cargo to the Moon and Mars, has undergone multiple test flights and static fire tests over the past two years. While setbacks have occurred before, such high-stakes testing is a routine part of rocket development.
Despite the dramatic failure, industry observers note that such incidents are expected in early stages of innovation, and SpaceX has a history of rapidly iterating its designs based on test data.