Assessing the aftermath of SpaceX's Starship launch explosion.

SpaceX's first test flight of Starship rocket caused serious damage to its Texas launch site, including a huge crater and flying chunks of concrete and twisted metal sheets. Repairing the damage is expected to take months, potentially delaying further launch attempts and slowing the development of a rocket NASA plans to use on its upcoming Moon missions. The force of the engines when they throttled up may have shattered the concrete, rather than simply eroding it. SpaceX engineers may have underestimated the damage that Starship's 33 first-stage rocket engines would do.