'It blew up': Social media mockery takes off as SpaceX rebrands midair explosion
The midair explosion of SpaceX’s Starship rocket took over social media on Thursday with space watchers ridiculing the Elon Musk-owned company’s rebranding of the incident as “a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” the company wrote in a post on X of the company's seventh test of its mega-rocket. “Teams will continue to review data from today's flight test to better understand root cause.”
Musk himself weighed in on his own X account, ensuring his space enthusiast followers that “nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month,” and thanking supporters like NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who just months ago called for Musk to be investigated for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Spaceflight is not easy,” Nelson wrote on X. “It’s anything but routine. That’s why these tests are so important—each one bringing us closer on our path to the Moon and onward to Mars through #Artemis.”
But not all were as impressed by the spacecraft blowing up midair as Nelson was, with many social media users particularly amused by the company’s curious rewording.
“It blew up,” biologist Daniel Schneider wrote on Bluesky. “Elon Musk. It. Blew. Up. Starship exploded.” He later shared a photo circulating social media of a colorful array of fireballs falling from the sky and added: “Who knew that when Space X Starship explodes it looks like an LGBTQ pride flag.”
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“SpaceX: Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” artist Art Candee wrote to her followers on Bluesky. “Everyone else: It blew up.”
“Hope Musk's presidency experiences a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” Michael Little, a U.S. Navy veteran, said on Bluesky.
Legal report Chris Geidner posted to his social media followers: “Yeah, ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’ is going in the books.”
“The harbinger of Tuesday January 20, the rapid unscheduled disassembly of democracy,” teacher Paulette Feeney told her followers.
Watch the explosion below or at this link.