SpaceX Tested Starship's Engines and Accidentally Caused a Large Fire

The spaceship prototype is still being worked on by the company to be ready for their big day.

While the news of Queen Elizabeth II's death distracted from the company's testing, engineers at the company's testing facilities in Texas pulled off a series of successful static fire tests.

Things didn't go according to plan. The company was forced to summon the local fire department during static fire engine tests after huge flames from the bottom of the prototype caused a nearby patch of vegetation to catch fire.

The big grass fire is happening.

The conflagration caused a dumpster fire and onlookers pointed it out.

It isn't the first fire caused by a rocket launch or test fire, but it is the most difficult to keep under control.

Only six engines were fired by the Starship prototype. The Super Heavy booster will eventually fire 33 of them to get itself and Starship off the ground, an awe-inspiring display with a larger potential for an even bigger fire.

In order to stop future fires from burning out of control, Musk's company has yet to install a water deluge at its testing facilities, instead relying on a single spray nozzle.

Live streams of Thursday's testing show black smoke billowing from a green patch near the launch pad after ship 24 ignites its six massive Raptor 2 engines.

It was one of the longest static fires in the history of the planet.

After waiting for hours while the leftover propellant was unloaded from the spaceship, firefighters had to extinguish the brush fire.

There was a fire near the checkpoint. The area between the pad and the village seems to be going to be burned to speed things up.

The fire is unfortunate, but the company tried to get ahead of it.

There are highlighted areas that have been cleared of vegetation over the past two months, leading up to the test, in a birds eye view of the site.

The issue is not unique to the South Texas testing facilities. A fire at the historic launch pad 38A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida was caused by a Falcon 9 rocket.

NASA will have their work cut out to stop future launches from causing fires.

The prototype of the spaceship starts a major brush fire.

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