SpaceX's Starship 36 Explodes, Bursts Into an Absurd Amount of Flames During Routine Testing in Preparation For Launch

CNBC – A SpaceX Starship rocket on Wednesday exploded at the Starbase facility in Texas during routine testing in preparation for a launch flight, according to local authorities and live stream footage.

The rocket “experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase” at 11 p.m. local time, SpaceX said on social media, noting “a safety clear area around the site was maintained throughout the operation and all personnel are safe and accounted for.”

Local authorities said that Starship “suffered a catastrophic failure and exploded,” with no injuries reported at the time of writing and an investigation is now underway. Live stream footage of Starbase showed the rocket burst into flame, shooting a large fireball into the sky.

My goodness, SpaceX. That's the 4th Starship to explode so far this year. This is who NASA is relying on to help get them back to the moon. This is what we're relying on to take us safely to Mars when Iran bombs the Supervolcano. God damn, Elon. No more politics. Time to divert more of your time (and by time I mean money) back into rockets. Rockets are what you're best at. Rockets are your best chance at making people like you. But if you keep half-assing them, you're going to keep finding yourself in Roman Roy situations. 

To be fair to SpaceX, nobody was killed in the failure of this routine test. Which is almost hard to imagine, but good for them. Good safety protocols over at SpaceX. For an explosion of that size to result in zero injuries, their "safety clear area" must have been the size of Hiroshima. I really don't know what I thought that video was going to look like when I read the tweet that said "WOW! SpaceX's Starship 36 just exploded!", but I wasn't expecting it to be quite this theatrical. 

It's kind of beautiful, really. Like the world's most impossibly expensive firework. Trump would kill a hooker for a 4th of July fireworks display that fantastical on the National Mall this year. Honestly, that's not a bad idea. I know him and Elon are feuding right now, but instead of D.C.'s typical boring Independence Day fireworks celebration, if there's anyway they could launch and explode a few Starships in the sky over Washington D.C… what a magnificent display of power and opulence it would be to the rest of the world. And it would do wonders for our country's morale. Maybe something to consider.