Space X’s latest test include an aborted booster catch that ended with a fiery display. As NSF’s live stream of the event showed, the SpaceX booster was not able to be safely retrieved, allegedly due to unspecified safety concerns. Instead, the rocket booster plunged into the gulf, causing a big explosion. One of SpaceX’s main goals of this test was to have “the booster once again returning to the launch site for catch.”
NASASpaceflight has shared footage of the explosion on X. The official SpaceX livestream and Fox News‘ livestream of the event appear to cut away from the scene before the explosion. Photographer Andrew McCarthy also captured an image of the explosion, which you can see below.
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President-elect Donald Trump was in attendance for the launch, as was Elon Musk. Once Trump takes office in January, he intends to have Musk lead a new government commission, the Department of Government Efficiency.
If you watch the Associated Press footage captured at a previous successful launch below, you can see an example of what Tuesday’s catch was supposed to look like.
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