A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 11:50 p.m. EDT Thursday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, carrying the Boeing-built X-37B spaceplane under the USSF-36 mission.
United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket is poised to join SpaceX’s Falcon fleet in launching the country’s highest priority national security space missions.
Initial analysis points to a composite overwrapped pressure vessel containing nitrogen gas in Starship’s nosecone area as the possible cause of an explosion.