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SpaceX Mars Rocket Prototype Lands—Then Bursts Into Fireball

Elon Musk tweeted, “Starship SN10 landed in one piece!”

SpaceX on Wednesday landed a test flight of a prototype of a rocket meant to eventually reach Mars, but it exploded after touching down. The rocket, Starship SN10, reached a height of six miles in the air over Boca Chica, Texas, as planned, but after the SpaceX livestream had concluded and engineers had initiated recovery operations for the rocket, flames ignited at the base of the spacecraft and incinerated it. A fuel tank leak may have caused the explosion. The flight was the second launch attempt of the day after an aborted takeoff three hours prior. Two of the SN10’s previous flights ended with midair explosions. Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, tweeted, “Starship SN10 landed in one piece!”