Starbase is an industrial installation built by SpaceX to fabricate and test a number of the company’s rocket types. The area around it is a unique and delicate ecosystem that includes estuaries and coastal grasslands, mud flats and more, where falcons, hawks, ravens, gulls and songbirds live.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a launch license for the next Starship flight test on Dec. 17, clearing the way for SpaceX to once again launch the world's largest rocket from south Texas. Ever since, SpaceX has been rapidly preparing for the seventh overall flight test of the 400-foot-tall Starship.

Some Hawaiians don’t like the idea of SpaceX dropping Starship rockets in the Pacific Ocean surrounding the islands.

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, pulled off a daring booster catch on its most ambitious test flight yet, but the spacecraft was lost. Follow for the latest news.

The uncrewed Starship spacecraft was apparently destroyed during its first flight launch of 2025 that blasted off from south Texas.

"Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today's flight test to better understand root cause. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability," it read.

The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world. The booster was successfully caught at the launchpad.

Commercial airlines had to divert or delay their flights to avoid debris from the SpaceX Starship spacecraft that exploded Thursday during a flight test.

SpaceX has traced the likely cause of the explosion that destroyed its Starship vehicle during its Jan. 16 test flight to a leak of liquid oxygen or liquid methane.

The third Starship test flight last March saw the spacecraft reach its planned trajectory and fly halfway around the world before succumbing to the scorching heat of atmospheric reentry. In June, the fourth test flight ended with controlled splashdowns of the rocket's Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico and of Starship in the Indian Ocean.

Before the loss, SpaceX for the second time used giant mechanical arms to catch the booster back at the pad minutes after liftoff from Texas. The descending booster hovered over the launch pad ...

SpaceX is scheduled to bring home two astronauts who have been on the International Space Station since June. Mr. Musk said President Trump had asked for that to occur “as soon as possible.”