SpaceX's Last Big Test Was All Wet [UPDATED With Flight Test Date!]

There was a big boom during a test at SpaceX's new Launch Pad 2 down in Starbase, Texas, on Sunday, but nothing got burned. 

Part of the thrill for space fans comes from the hard-won knowledge that every test or launch might end early with a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (RUD), the big badda-boom that happens when something goes very wrong in the most spectacular way.

RUDs aren't good, mind you — but there's no denying that they can be extremely cool.

This one was cooler than most, involving as much as 350,000 gallons of water.

Even if you're new to this, you already know that a rocket launch goes through almost unthinkable amounts of explosive liquids in almost nothing flat. SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket uses between 38,000 and 40,000 gallons of RP-1 (refined kerosene) and another 65,000 to 70,000 gallons of liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. And that's just the booster stage, which burns through a combined 103,000-110,000 gallons of go-juice in less than three minutes.

The numbers for Starship — with its 33 booster engines, compared to Falcon 9's nine — stagger the imagination.

And Another Thing: While not quite as accurate, I converted everything to gallons to keep the comparisons easy. Kilograms or tons are the preferred measurements, but I'm not writing a science paper here. Anybody can visualize gallons, so let's use those.

Depending on sub-cooling, Starship's most-powerful-ever Super Heavy Booster stage burns through 400,000–450,000 gallons of liquid methane (CH₄) and another 550,000–650,000 gallons of LOX.

Let's just call it an even million, or about 10 times Falcon 9's needs.

Starship is still under development, with Version 3 tentatively scheduled for its first flight test later this month, and it will only grow over time. So take today's figures with a grain of salt, because tomorrow's figures will be even bigger.

If you're wondering what all that 'splodey stuff does to the launch pad, that's where those 350,000 gallons of water come in. Set your Wayback Machine to April 20, 2023, and Starship Flight Test 1. The launch itself was enough of a success for rapid iteration, but the sheer power of the Super Heavy Booster — much smaller than the current one! — destroyed the bare concrete pad underneath. Debris flew thousands of feet.

So SpaceX created a water deluge system to flood and cool the orbital launch mount (OLM), flame trench/deflector, and surrounding structures from the extreme heat, acoustic energy, and forces produced by Starship launches. More than 90% of the 350,000 gallons of water is almost instantly converted into steam.

Just like the rocket engines burning through fuel, the deluge system absolutely must push all that water to where it needs to be, perfectly and rapidly.

So the deluge requires testing, too, and Saturday's test was unexpectedly cool.

Watch the clips.

Upon further review… what was THAT?!?! Yikes! pic.twitter.com/CROE5es0bR

— MattZ (@wvmattz) May 3, 2026

Kinda hard to miss that whatever-it-was go flying.

SpaceX hasn't yet said what went wrong or what the damage was, but some expert SpaceX watchers think it was likely nothing too serious.

From where it came, I'll suggest one of the many deluge shut-off valves (see the highlighted picture) pic.twitter.com/ow8G7vm5ai

— Tony De La Rosa (@T_De_La_Rosa) May 3, 2026

Still, nothing is supposed to actually launch during a water deluge test, so SpaceX will have to fix whatever went kablooey and mitigate against anything similar happening in the future.

We've waited a long time for Starship Flight Test 12, and there's a lot riding on the rapid completion of the development phase. That includes the Artemis 4 mission, very tentatively set for 2028, that will put Americans on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.

UPDATE: I'm happy to report that Saturday's damage must not have been that bad, because Starship just got FAA permission for Starship V3 to fly on May 12 with a backup (if needed) for May 13.

Starship Flight 12 now has a NET of May 12 via the latest FAA advisory as well.

Remember, SpaceX has a lot of testing to conduct before a launch date becomes real, but it's certainly looking hopeful for sometime in May. pic.twitter.com/pLYTOZ0NN5

— NSF - NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) May 4, 2026

This is great news.

Recommended: No Conspiracy Required

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