Video of SpaceX's explosive starship test aftermath sparks outrage: 'Send Elon a bill for cleanup'
On the heels of Elon Musk's well-documented struggles with Tesla in 2025, the billionaire has once again faced adversity with the recent explosion of a SpaceX Starship.
On May 27, SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded during a test flight after launching from Starbase, Texas. Just 46 minutes after launch, the ship broke up and crashed into the Indian Ocean. This was just the ninth flight test of the Starship and Super Heavy booster.
Following the launch, countless bits and pieces of the ship found their way into the ocean waters below. Just a few days later, debris from the Starship began to wash ashore on Mexican beaches.
Weather forecasting service AccuWeather (@accuweather) posted an Instagram video documenting the amount of debris that reached the shore. "Now, everything from plastic shards to giant gas tanks is being found along Playa Bagdad, about 200 miles south of Corpus Christi," the narrator noted.
Musk took to the social platform X to explain the failure and attempted to take an optimistic approach to the explosion.
"Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent," he wrote. "Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review."
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Although Musk appeared unbothered, many commenters under AccuWeather's post were troubled by the amount of potentially harmful materials that ended up in the environment.
"Send Elon a bill for cleanup," one user quipped. "He can afford it."
"Environmental Vandalism. Musk should be charged for this atrocity," another user wrote.
A third user shared the same frustrations as the previous commenters: "What we humans are doing to this earth is disgusting! Instead of searching for life on other planets take that money and fix THIS planet!"
According to NASA, there is a risk of toxic exposure to chemical contaminants from many spacecraft components. This includes environmental system and payload leaks, potentially hazardous materials, and the use of utility compounds and propellants.
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