Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket bursts into flames during test firing

Texas, July 12: In a setback, a rocket booster developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX for its next-generation Starship spacecraft burst into flames during a ground-test firing on Monday in Texas.

Responding to the incident, Musk tweeted, "Yeah, actually not good. Team is assessing damage." The cause for the explosion has not veen revealed yet.

The incident was recorded in a livestream by the website Nasa Spaceflight during ground testing of the Super Heavy Booster 7 prototype. The visuals showed the explosion engulfed the base of the rocket in a ball of flames although the booster remained standing upright. "Going forward, we won't do a spin start test with all 33 engines at once," he said on Twitter.

There are no reports of anyone getting injured in the blast.

At 394 feet (120 meters) tall when mated with its super-heavy first-stage booster, SpaceXs complete Starship is the companys next-generation launch vehicle at the center of Musks ambitions to make human space travel more affordable and routine.

SpaceX is yet to give a statement on the incident.

It may be recalled that SpaceX lost four prototypes of the Starship itself in a series of high-altitude test launches when the return landing attempts ended in explosions. The Starship prototype finally made a safe touchdown in May 2021.