Assessing the aftermath of SpaceX's Starship launch explosion.
SpaceX's first test flight of Starship 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. SpaceX engineers may have underestimated the damage that Starship's 33 first-stage rocket engines would do. Despite the damage, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk considers the test flight more a success than a failure and estimates that a next launch attempt could be carried out as soon as "one to two months."
