Early Friday morning, SpaceX's newest Super Heavy booster — designated V3 or Booster 18 — experienced a destructive failure during ground testing at the company's South Texas launch complex. The event was visible on the company's livestream at about 4 a.m. CST, when cameras captured what observers described as a blowout of the booster’s lower section.
SpaceX said that "Booster 18 suffered an anomaly during gas system pressure testing that we were conducting in advance of structural proof testing. No propellant was on the vehicle, and engines were not yet installed." The company added that no personnel were injured because ground teams maintain a safe distance for this type of test, and that investigators will need time to determine the cause before resuming operations at the site.
The V3 booster is reported to be about 232 feet tall. When paired with the Starship upper stage (roughly 171 feet tall), the fully stacked vehicle reaches around 403 feet in height.
Program context and recent test history
The incident continues a run of challenging tests for the iterative Starship development program. Since the program's first integrated flight on April 20, 2023, there have been multiple test flights and prototype campaigns — including several recent launches that ended with splashdowns or losses of one or both stages. Only a subset of recent missions achieved all planned objectives, such as dual-stage splashdowns.
Early attempts included use of the large pad-side capture mechanism nicknamed "Mechazilla," which successfully grabbed a booster on some tests but has not been used on the most recent flights. SpaceX has also recovered and reflown at least one booster during the program's development.
Next steps and program goals
SpaceX said teams will investigate the pressure-test anomaly and prepare plans to safely reenter the site. The company continues to develop operational concepts for Starship, including on-orbit refueling and eventual launches from other sites such as Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A in Florida.
V3 is intended as an incremental upgrade to increase performance and payload capacity for Earth orbit, lunar and interplanetary missions. NASA has selected Starship as the human landing system for Artemis 3, though schedule targets have shifted; SpaceX and NASA continue coordinating timelines and technical milestones for lunar operations.
Industry competitors are also advancing heavy-launch capabilities. For example, another heavy-launch developer has recently increased the size of its New Glenn design and successfully landed a booster on a drone ship during a recent launch campaign.
Investigations into the cause of the V3 failure are expected to take time. SpaceX did not report any injuries and said no propellant or engines were on Booster 18 during the gas-system pressure test.
