In Texas, SpaceX's prototype Super Heavy rocket exploded on the launch pad during the start of tests. This was announced by the editor-in-chief of the site NASASpaceFlight.com Chris Bergin in his Twitter.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the incident in a replay to Bergin's tweet:

“Yes, everything is really bad. The team is assessing the damage."

According to him, the problem was related to starting the engine of the Raptor, which has a complex starting sequence. He emphasized that in the future, SpaceX "will not conduct a launch test from all 33 engines at the same time."

Between late 2020 and early 2021, SpaceX lost four Starship prototypes during testing. All their re-landing attempts ended in explosions. In May 2021, the Starship prototype finally made a successful landing.