Before Its Starship Exploded, SpaceX Decimated a Chrysler Minivan
The Caravan was just a little too close to the blast radius of the SpaceX Starship launch.
Hundreds of thousands of people watched as Elon Musk's SpaceX launched its most powerful rocket ever, Starship. The stainless steal rocket was undergoing its first orbital test flight from its "Starbase" HQ in Texas. Considering that the 400-foot-tall Starship is capable of millions of pounds of thrust force, SpaceX said the surrounding launch area was "cleared well in advance of the test." Though, it looks like they may have missed a spot.
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A video has surfaced of a Dodge Caravan parked near Starship's launch pad. As a VR camera was capturing the rocket's launch, the van can be seen on the left side of the frame near some other important-looking equipment. As the Starship takes off, the video shows dust and large rocks being kicked up and propelled at fantastic speeds due to the rocket's immense thrust. Just a few moments later an object approximately the size of an exercise ball strikes the van's rear passenger side. It isn't clear if the object was a boulder, a chunk of concrete, or something else but it was heavy enough to rock the van nearly off its wheels. Other smaller rocks shot through more of the van's windows. Commentators from the LabPadre YouTube channel even break down the carnage in real time.
By the time the smoke cleared, the Dodge Caravan looked like it was pretty chewed up. The van allegedly belongs to NASASpaceFlight.com and may have been purposefully parked that close to the launch zone to capture close up footage of Starship taking off.
If that's true that means not only does the website have a very expensive body shop bill in its future, but it probably lost a fair share of expensive camera equipment as well.
On the bright side, Starship started to spin off course during its test and eventually blew up in what SpaceX referred to as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly." The van on the other hand is still relatively in one piece. Looks like Dodge won this round! We wonder how well a Tesla Cybertruck would have withstood that kind of barrage?
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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