SpaceX’s Boom Moments: How Many Rockets Have Exploded?

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s ambitious space exploration company, has launched more than 100 rockets in pursuit of missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. But behind every successful flight lies a fiery trail of failed prototypes, and Musk says that’s exactly how progress is made.

From the 2014 mid-air Falcon 9 explosion to this week’s foggy crash of a Starship prototype in Texas, the company’s history is dotted with spectacular failures.

In 2016, a rocket exploded on the launchpad, destroying a $200 million Facebook satellite. In 2019, a Falcon Heavy core booster missed its ocean drone ship and ended in flames. Even a successful landing in 2021 wasn’t safe, the Starship SN10 blew up just minutes after touching down.

SpaceX’s approach to testing, ‘fly fast, fail fast, learn faster,’ has drawn both criticism and admiration. Each explosion brings Musk’s team closer to developing a reusable, interplanetary rocket system.

These high-stakes failures, while costly, are viewed by SpaceX as essential steps toward redefining space travel.