On June 18, SpaceX rolled out the latest iteration of its Starship spacecraft to the test stand for a static fire test in preparation for a test flight scheduled for June 29. Then, around 11 pm Central Standard Time, the spacecraft exploded in a fireball, taking itself and the test stand out in a spectacular conflagration.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s initial reaction was an attempt at humor when he posted on X, “Just a scratch,” channeling a line from Monty Python.

Later, in a more serious post, Musk revealed the likely cause of the explosion: “Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen [composite overwrapped pressure vessel] in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure.”

Peter Hague, an astrophysicist and a follower of space commercialization, notes that the failure stemmed from quality control issues with the specific component and not, as some suggest, an inherent design flaw in the Starship vehicle. If so, the problem should be easy to fix.

What happens next? When will SpaceX test another Starship? How does the accident affect NASA’s Artemis program to return to the moon and........

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