Extraordinary fireball during tense final maneuvers of SpaceX Starship that is set to carry men to moon

By CHRIS MELORE, DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 23:30, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 02:17, 23 May 2026 The largest and most powerful rocket in history exploded in a massive fireball after its successful test flight around the Earth Friday night. Elon Musk's SpaceX declared the launch of Starship 12 a success and noted that the space capsule's explosion in the Indian Ocean was planned as the aerospace company did not plan to reuse the experimental craft. Starship Flight 12 took off from SpaceX's launching pad in Starbase, Texas Friday night as the company began critical trials before NASA uses this third version of Starship to take astronauts to the moon and beyond.  While the craft successfully made it into space, the launch was not perfect, as Starship lost the use of one of its six new 'Raptor' engines. It was forced to burn its remaining five engines longer to compensate. However, the unmanned rocket was still able to complete most of its planned mission, successfully surviving reentry and completing its landing maneuvers before splashing down in the ocean and erupting into a ball of flame. Your browser does not support iframes. Flight 12 tested Version 3 of Starship, the company's latest design which featured several improvements based on lessons from earlier test flights, including more efficient and powerful Raptor 3 engines, better fuel systems and more heat protection. Musk and his team are eyeing this version of Starship as the one NASA astronauts will use as their lunar lander for the Artemis program. It will carry astronauts to the moon’s surface as soon as 2028 when Artemis IV is scheduled to take off. SpaceX’s long-term dream for Starship V3 is to send both humans and cargo to Mars to build the first self-sustaining city on the Red Planet. Starship was designed to be refueled in orbit so it can make the long journey to Mars. SpaceX Starship 12, the company's third version of the craft, launched successfully at 6.30pm ET on May 22 SpaceX Starship 12, the company's third version of the craft, launched successfully at 6.30pm ET on May 22 SpaceX Starship 12, the company's third version of the craft, launched successfully at 6.30pm ET on May 22 Pictured: Starship 12 splashes down in the Indian Ocean after a successful test flight on May 22 As planned, Starship 12 exploded once it touched down in the Indian Ocean 66 minutes after launching from Starbase, Texas Friday's test flight was a suborbital mission, meaning it did not go into full orbit, and was said by SpaceX to be the first pivotal step in testing how the new Starship's hardware behaves under real flight conditions. Starship 12 featured two key parts, the 'Super Heavy,' the bottom booster stage with 33 powerful Raptor engines, and the Starship, the upper part sitting on top of the booster that has its own engines. The spacecraft is what would carry astronauts to space. Overall, the rocket stood as tall as a 50-story building, making it the biggest and most powerful rocket in history. After a successful liftoff from Starbase, Texas at 6.30pm ET, the Super Heavy booster separated after a few minutes of flight, conducted a 'boostback' burn to slow itself down and then performed a landing burn to splash down gently in the Gulf of America. Unlike previous SpaceX missions, this rocket booster did not try to land back at the launch site as the company's other reusable rockets have. Meanwhile, the upper Starship stage continued into space, where it successfully deployed 22 dummy Starlink satellites 20 minutes into the flight. Cameras inside the craft captured the moment as each communications panel slid out of the cargo hatch and was sent off into orbit as the SpaceX crew back on Earth cheered and chanted 'USA' from the company's control center in Texas. SpaceX did note during the flight that a scheduled restart of one of the craft's engines while in space was cancelled due to the loss of one of Starship's six engines during launch. Starship 12 successfully reached space despite the loss of one of its six engines on May 22 The SpaceX spacecraft successfully launched 22 fake Starlink satellites (Pictured) during its tests in space Pictured: SpaceX tests Starship's heat shields during reentry maneuvers on May 22 SpaceX had planned for Starship 12 to be destroyed on reentry as they stressed the craft's heat shields, but the rocket survived and exploded once landing in the Indian Ocean Flight 12 made it through Earth's atmosphere intact despite SpaceX testing its heat shields by deliberately removing one panel to see how the craft would hold up under such stress. Despite the stress, cameras captured the moment the rocket passed through the atmosphere without burning up and then adjusted its course to reach its final landing spot in the Indian Ocean. The whole flight took just over 66 minutes. Starship 12 was initially set to launch on Thursday, but the mission was postponed after several attempts to fix a mechanical issue just 40 seconds from takeoff. Musk revealed after the failed attempt that a hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract from the craft. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? 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