Elon Musk's Starship explodes, leaving a huge fireball on the launch pad.

SpaceX’s Starship , the mega-rocket with which Elon Musk plans to return to the Moon and travel to Mars, has exploded into a gigantic fireball during an ignition test at Starbase, the company’s base in southern Texas. The colossal explosion occurred at around 6:00 a.m. Spanish time on Thursday (11:00 p.m. Wednesday night in Texas) as the vehicle’s upper stage was being tested on the ground in preparation for its tenth launch. But something went wrong.

SpaceX explained what happened in a brief statement, noting that the spacecraft "experienced a severe anomaly" while not on the launch pad, but on a test stand at Starbase. Video captured by NASASpaceflight.com shows the explosion.

Despite the massive explosion, SpaceX assures that there were no injuries or casualties . "A safety zone was established around the site throughout the operation, and all personnel are safe and accounted for. Our Starbase team is actively working to secure the test site and surrounding areas, in collaboration with local authorities. There is no risk to residents of the surrounding communities, and we ask that people do not attempt to approach the area while security operations continue," they emphasized.

Starbase is located near Massey, a small town in Hill County, Texas, whose residents consider the Elon Musk-owned facility one of their main assets. In fact, Starbase recently obtained official status as an independent city, comprised primarily of employees from the complex.

Immediately after the explosion, emergency services in this county and Cameron County were activated to extinguish the fire and treat any potential injuries, although no serious injuries were reported.

This was the second in-situ ignition test of Starship as part of the program to prepare for the rocket's tenth flight test. Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, consists of two elements: a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 52-meter-tall upper-stage spacecraft, known as Starship, which is the exploded portion. Both are reusable.

According to NASA Spaceflight, which closely monitors spacecraft activity, the problem occurred just before the craft was scheduled to perform a static fire test. This is a common pre-launch test that involves a brief firing of the rocket's engines while the vehicle remains on the ground. SpaceX had previously conducted similar tests, albeit only with one of the six Raptor upper stage engines.

The explosion is the latest setback for Starship, which has disintegrated during the last three test flights. On flights 7 and 8, the craft exploded ten minutes after takeoff. On May 27 , on the ninth test flight, the mega-rocket flew a considerably longer distance but lost contact 46 minutes after launch, likely breaking into pieces and falling into the Indian Ocean. A failure in one of the Raptor engines caused an unstable flight, and the self-destruct protocol was activated after communications were lost.

Despite the incidents, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given the green light for further launches. Starship is considered key to the Artemis 3 mission back to the Moon and future private spaceflights.