SpaceX’s Starship exploded after splashing down in a designated zone in the northern Pacific Ocean. The blast capped the 14th test flight, which SpaceX ended earlier than planned, but the company says it saw the explosion coming, TV station ABC13 reports.
SpaceX stresses that losing the vehicle doesn’t point to a technical problem or a failed flight. Starship simply isn’t built to land in cold ocean water, so the company expected this ending. Flight 13 also finished with a splashdown, but that time Starship stayed afloat for about a month before it was recovered.
Before heading home, the upper stage, Ship 41, performed a braking maneuver, reentered the atmosphere and splashed down. The whole flight lasted 3 hours 9 minutes — roughly 6 hours 50 minutes shorter than originally planned.
The return was caught on video. The footage shows a fiery glow wrapping around the hull during reentry, then an explosion after splashdown that sends small pieces of debris flying in every direction.
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This flight stood apart from all the previous ones. Each of the 13 earlier tests followed a suborbital trajectory, meaning the ship reached space but didn’t stay in orbit. This time, its engines gave Starship enough speed to reach a circular orbit for the first time, at an altitude of about 275 km.
From there, Starship deployed 26 next-generation Starlink satellites. It met every major objective except one — completing the six planned orbits around Earth.
