A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test in Texas late Wednesday, the company said, in the latest setback to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of sending humans to Mars.The explosion — which sent a towering fireball into the air — happened at the Starbase launch facility at about 11:00 pm (0400 GMT Thursday), SpaceX and law enforcement officials said.As the company prepared for a static fire test, “a sudden energetic event resulted in the complete loss of Starship and damage to the immediate area surrounding the stand,” it said Thursday, updating its initial statement.”The explosion ignited several fires at the test site which remains clear of personnel,” it said.”As is the case before any test, a safety zone was established around the test site and was maintained throughout the operation. There are no reported injuries, and all personnel are safe and accounted for.”During a static fire test, part of the procedures preceding a launch, the Starship’s first-stage Super Heavy booster would be anchored to the ground to prevent it from lifting off during the test-firing.Starbase, on the south Texas coast near the border with Mexico, is the headquarters for Musk’s space project. The company was preparing for the 10th test flight of Starship.”Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship’s nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing,” SpaceX said.Musk appeared to downplay the incident on Thursday.”Just a scratch,” he posted on his social media platform X.- Mega-rocket -Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and is central to Musk’s long-term vision of building a long-term colony on Mars.The Starship is billed as a fully reusable rocket with a payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons.The latest setback follows the explosion of a prototype Starship over the Indian Ocean in late May.That day, the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built had lifted off from the Starbase facility, but the Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.The previous two outings also ended poorly, with the upper stage disintegrating over the Caribbean.However, the failures will likely do little to dent Musk’s spacefaring ambitions.SpaceX has been betting that its “fail fast, learn fast” ethos, which has helped it dominate commercial spaceflight, will eventually pay off.The company has caught the Super Heavy booster in the launch tower’s giant robotic arms three times — a daring engineering feat it sees as key to rapid reusability and slashing costs.NASA is also increasingly reliant on SpaceX, whose Dragon spacecraft is vital for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.SpaceX said Thursday that there are “no commonalities” between the COPVs used on Starship — the current focus on the investigation — and those used on Falcon.The Federal Aviation Administration approved an increase in annual Starship rocket launches from five to 25 in early May, stating that the increased frequency would not adversely affect the environment.The decision overruled objections from conservation groups that had warned the expansion could endanger sea turtles and shorebirds.burs-abs/sst/sla

New York’s Pride parade, the highest-profile annual US LGBTQ gathering, is ramping up efforts to raise funds from individual community members, with corporate donations on the wane as Washington demonizes diversity.Following President Donald Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion policies in both government and the private sector, several companies have cancelled or curtailed their sponsorships of Pride parades this year.NYC Pride’s spokesman Kevin Kilbride said “just about 80 percent of the fundraising goal” for the city’s largest Pride parade group had been met.The parade itself will be held on June 29 and, according to organizers, could draw as many as two million attendees.”That gap we’re trying to fill with a community fundraising campaign. So in the middle of May, we launched a peer-to-peer campaign so folks can start their own fundraiser online, share it with their friends, and then have folks donate to that,” he said. The group was “wanting to lean a little bit more into individual giving and support from the community,” he said.The organization behind the annual parade as well as several other community projects said it raised “nearly $25,000 from almost 200 donors” in a matter of days.In years past, flamboyant floats sponsored by large corporations have paraded down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue alongside those organized by community groups.And while many will still participate, some have quietly cut back their commitments.Muneer Panjwani, who runs Engage for Good, said “there’s been a massive pullback over the last year, specifically in corporations that have long supported Pride events that have decided not to support anyone.”Panjwani’s organization connects companies to non-profits, and reports on the sums raised from “checkout giving” — where consumers are given the option of donating while paying for goods in a store.”While companies are pulling away their philanthropic dollars at the top level, from the bottom up, consumers are saying, ‘we still care about this issue,'” he said. – ‘People demanding their rights’ -One of the most prominent brands that reportedly stepped back from its previously high-profile involvement with Pride was discount department store Target.For a time, Target was reportedly asking to forego publicity and donate to New York Pride silently. Though Pride organizers said Target would have a float at the parade, the company subsequently told AFP this was not the case.The retailer has come under fire and seen its share price dip after a boycott was organized online in response to it curtailing diversity programs, citing “the evolving external landscape.””We will continue to mark Pride Month… (by) sponsoring local events in neighborhoods across the country,” a Target spokesman told AFP.At Brooklyn’s annual Pride parade, progressive Democratic city councilman Chi Osse told AFP that “Pride started grassroots through community, and corporations bowing the knee at a president who thinks he’s a king just shows us who they are to us.”Brooklyn’s Pride event is a smaller affair and has long been seen as a more radical gathering than its Manhattan sibling — albeit with a handful of its own corporate participants.One of those leading the twilight parade’s Sirens Women’s Motorcycle Club contingent, Anya Glowa-Kollisch, said “it’s great when companies are willing to say that they support equal rights.””But I think at the end of the day, it’s a movement that’s driven by people demanding their rights, and a lot of corporations just kind of do this because they think they should,” they said. “So it’s really valuable to have people in the community coming out and showing that this is who we are.”

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he will decide whether to join Israel’s strikes on Iran within the next two weeks as there is still a “substantial” chance of talks to end the conflict.Trump’s move to hit the pause button could open up space for diplomacy, after days of fevered questions about whether or not he would order US military action against Tehran.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt read out a message from Trump after what she called “a lot of speculation” about whether the United States would be “directly involved” in the conflict.”Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” Trump said in the statement.Trump has set two-week deadlines that subsequently shifted on a series of other tough topics in the past, including the Russia-Ukraine war — but Leavitt denied he was putting off a decision.”If there’s a chance for diplomacy the president’s always going to grab it, but he’s not afraid to use strength as well,” Leavitt said. At the same time Leavitt reinforced the sense of urgency, telling reporters that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in the space of a “couple of weeks.””Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. All they need is a decision from the supreme leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon,” she said.Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, saying that its program is for peaceful purposes.- ‘Trust in President Trump’ -Trump said on Wednesday that Iran had asked to send officials to the White House to negotiate a deal on its nuclear program and end the conflict with Israel — although Iran denied making any such request.Washington and Tehran had continued “correspondence” since Israel first struck Iran last week, Leavitt said.She said however that there were currently no plans for Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff to join European diplomats meeting Iran’s foreign minister in Geneva on Friday.Trump met his top national security team in the White House Situation Room for the third day in a row on Thursday. He will have similar meetings daily until he leaves for a NATO summit in the Netherlands on Monday, the White House said.His two-week deadline comes after a tense few days in which Trump publicly mulled joining Israel’s strikes on Iran and said that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was an “easy target.”Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path towards a deal to replace the nuclear deal with Iran that he tore up in his first term in 2018.But he has since backed Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military top brass, while mulling whether to join in.A key issue is that the United States is the only country with the huge “bunker buster” bombs that could destroy Iran’s crucial Fordo Iranian nuclear enrichment plant.”We have capabilities that no other country on this planet possesses,” said Leavitt.The White House meanwhile urged Trump supporters to “trust” the president as he decides whether to act.A number of key figures in his “Make America Great Again” movement, including commentator Tucker Carlson and former aide Steve Bannon, have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran.Trump’s promise to extract the United States from its “forever wars” in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins.”Trust in President Trump. President Trump has incredible instincts,” Leavitt said.