Kathmandu – Elon Musk, the world-renowned billionaire and founder of SpaceX, has faced another major setback in his ambitious dream of paving the way for humanity to reach Mars. For the third time, SpaceX’s much-anticipated “Starship” rocket mission ended in failure on Tuesday night, leaving Musk’s Mars dream still unfulfilled.
According to reports published in international media, the 122-meter-tall and 400-foot-long rocket was launched from Starbase, Texas, on Tuesday evening (5:15 AM Wednesday Nepali time). However, just 47 minutes after launch, the rocket experienced a “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” – meaning it broke apart unexpectedly.
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The reports state that after liftoff, the “Super Heavy Booster” successfully propelled the upper stage of the rocket into a suborbital trajectory. However, just a few minutes after engine shutdown, a fuel leak was detected inside the rocket, causing it to spin slightly. During the live broadcast, SpaceX webcast host Dan Huot informed viewers, “We’ve lost attitude control.”
SpaceX had also planned to release some dummy satellites after launch, but that plan failed as the rocket’s payload bay door did not fully open. After the flight failure, Elon Musk took to social media platform X to announce that a “drop in main tank pressure” and the resulting leak caused issues during re-entry.
Musk also announced that the next three test flights will take place “in intervals of 3–4 weeks” and claimed that they have collected “a lot of helpful data.” SpaceX has now prioritized improving the fueling system, testing the payload bay door, and working on the heat-shield tiles.
However, it remains uncertain when SpaceX’s dream of making humanity multiplanetary will come true. Previous test flights in January and March 2025 also ended in explosions. Unlike earlier launches, this time SpaceX did not plan to catch the booster with the ‘chopstick’ mechanism, and after losing contact, the booster broke apart and fell into the Gulf of Mexico – adding to the Starship’s setbacks.
