SpaceX Starship Rocket Succeeds in Suborbital Test, Then Explodes on Landing

In a much-needed win for SpaceX, the company's Starship rocket successfully launched on Tuesday, July 25, 2025, and achieved a suborbital trajectory after a series of previous failures. The 403-foot-tall rocket blasted off from SpaceX's Starbase launch site in South Texas, with engineers on the ground cheering the successful liftoff.

Once in the air, the Starship separated from its Super Heavy Booster and deployed eight dummy satellites before continuing to orbit the Earth. The rocket then landed on the ocean's surface west of Australia, with its engines firing to flip the craft upright. However, the Starship then toppled over and exploded into a giant fireball, an expected outcome according to SpaceX executives.

The successful test flight comes after a year of mishaps for the Starship program, including back-to-back explosions in January and March 2025, as well as a catastrophic failure of the Super Heavy booster in May 2025. SpaceX has learned from these failures and made design improvements to the Starship and booster, which appear to have paid off with this latest successful launch.

The company is counting on the Starship rockets to support its ambitious goals, including bringing astronauts back to the moon and ultimately colonizing Mars. The Starship will also be used to finish building out SpaceX's Starlink satellite network, which is already the largest in the world.