Disaster in the Skies: SpaceX Starship Erupts in Fiery Explosion—Elon Musk’s Mars Dream Shattered Before World’s Eyes! Shockwaves Rip Through Space Industry as Billion-Dollar Rocket Fails Spectacularly—What Went Wrong, and Can Musk Recover? Inside the Catastrophe That Has Everyone Questioning the Future of Space Travel.

Elon Musk’s ninth SpaceX Starship test flight ended in disaster after mission control lost altitude control, as founder wearing an ‘Occupy Mars’ shirt, left

SpaceX founder Elon Musk is facing his third failed rocket launch (Image: Getty Images)

SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded during re-entry, marking the third consecutive failure of what Elon Musk has billed as humanity’s ticket to Mars.

Tuesday’s high-stakes test flight ended in disaster less than an hour after liftoff, just before the billionaire abruptly scrapped a scheduled speech outlining his long-touted vision to “make life multiplanetary.”

Starship launched from Starbase, Musk’s sprawling private spaceport in southern Texas, and reached farther into space than previous attempts in January and March. But after about 30 minutes, the spacecraft began spinning uncontrollably and leaking fuel. Moments later, it broke apart in the upper atmosphere.

“Our chances of making it all the way down to the Indian Ocean are pretty slim,” a SpaceX commentator said grimly during the company’s livestream. The feed was cut shortly after Musk, watching the launch in a T-shirt that read “Occupy Mars,” did not appear for his post-launch speech.

SpaceX on Tuesday launched its ninth Starship test flight from Starbase, TX (Image: -)

SpaceX confirmed the explosion with characteristic understatement, calling it a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” The Super Heavy booster, which the company attempted to reuse for the first time, also exploded on reentry, crashing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Plans to deploy eight dummy Starlink internet satellites also failed due to a malfunctioning payload door that did not open fully. The explosion comes at a turbulent time for Musk.

His electric vehicle company, Tesla, is struggling amid plummeting sales, investor unrest, and consumer backlash over his increasingly extreme political views and closeness to Donald Trump. Once the dominant force in EVs, Tesla is now losing market share rapidly amid intensifying competition from Chinese automakers and legacy car manufacturers ramping up their own electric offerings.