BROWNSVILLE, Texas (NewsNation Now) — The SpaceX launch of Starship SN8 prototype on Wednesday ended in an explosion prior to the attempted landing, after the first launch attempt Tuesday failed.
The SpaceX Starship SN8 flight test, scheduled for Tuesday morning, aborted after an engine fire at the facility in Boca Chica.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “Successful ascent, switchover to header tanks & precise flap control to landing point!” and “Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD, but we got all the data we needed! Congrats SpaceX team hell yeah!!”
According to the SpaceX website, this was the first attempt at a high-altitude suborbital flight test from the Cameron County, Texas site.
SpaceX has previously completed two low altitude tests with Starship SN5 and SN6.
NewsNation affiliate KVEO contributed to this report. This is a developing story.