Dramatic footage shows a fligh bursting into flames during a routine test in Texas on Wednesday night.

The fire happened at around 11pm last night when Starship 36 rocket was undergoing a static fire test at Starbase test site. In shocking footage the rocket's nose suddenly bursts open - causing the screen to momentarily flash white.

It is understood that the static fire test is a pre-flight procedure whereby a rocket engine or a set of engines are ignited while the vehicle is firmly bolted to the launch mount. This means that the rocket was not set to launch Wednesday night when the explosion happened.

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The explosion was so intense local residents reported that their windows shook and dishes rattled,

Firefighters were quickly dispatched to the scene, as the City of Port Isabel explained to residents that SpaceX 'experienced a spacecraft anomaly during testing at its facility' and that it is monitoring the situation,

It comes just weeks after its mega rocket Starship exploded. On its ninth demo, the 403-foot (123-metre) rocket blasted off from the Texas base, only for it to experience "a rapid unscheduled disassembly" - and burst apart.

Speaking after the demo, Mr Musk said: "I think I probably did spend a bit too much time on politics," a telling 13-word comment in reflection on his time as Donald Trump's senior advisor. Last month, Mr Musk, 53, conceded fo he can concentrate on other projects.

And these may include his SpaceX work as the Starship is yet to successful take off. The entrepreneur continued: "It's less time than people think (on politics), because the media is going to over-represent any political stuff, because political bones of contention get a lot of traction in the media.

"It's not like I left the companies. It was a relative time allocation that probably was a little too high on the government side, and I've reduced that significantly in recent weeks."

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