New Delhi, May 28: Even as SpaceX’s Starship flight exploded during splashdown on its ninth test on Wednesday, the company’s founder Elon Musk blamed it on fuel leaks.

This is the third time in a row that Starship flight has faced issues during the test flight. The company’s last two test flights — the seventh (January) and eighth (March) test flight — also ended prematurely with the destruction of the aircraft.

The ninth test flight of Starship — which blasted off at about 7:36 p.m. EDT (5:06 am IST) from the company’s Starbase launch site in Texas — successfully reached orbit, flying farther than on its two previous attempts.

However, the spacecraft’s payload bay door failed to open, preventing the planned release of simulated Starlink satellites. Around 30 minutes into the mission, SpaceX confirmed a fuel tank leak aboard the vehicle.

The first-stage Super Heavy booster exploded shortly before its expected splashdown, and live video showed the upper-stage vehicle spinning uncontrollably before its planned re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, due to fuel leaks.

“Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase,” Musk shared in a post on his social media platform X.

“Contact with the booster was lost shortly after the start of the landing burn when it experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly approximately 6 minutes after launch, bringing an end to the first reflight of a Super Heavy booster,” SpaceX said in a statement.

However, Musk called the flight an achievement and noted that there had been no loss to the heat shield tiles.

“Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over the last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Lot of good data to review,” Musk said.

SpaceX noted that the company “will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test”.

Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship and heavy booster — the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket system. It will launch the moon lander for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission that aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2026.

New Delhi, May 24: Backing the Karnataka government’s decision to rename Ramanagara district as ‘Bengaluru South’, SP Maharashtra chief Abu Asim Azmi said there was “nothing wrong” with the move and took a swipe at name changes in Uttar Pradesh, alleging that only Muslim names were being deliberately altered in the northern state.

“There is no hate in this name. In UP and other places, including Maharashtra, Muslim names were deliberately changed. If Karnataka has renamed Ramanagara to Bengaluru South, what’s wrong with it? Many names have been changed similarly in Mumbai without targeting any particular religion. I don’t think this is anything different,” Azmi told Media.

Azmi’s remarks came shortly after the Karnataka government formally issued a notification renaming Ramanagara district to ‘Bengaluru South’. The state’s Revenue Department said Ramanagara city will continue to serve as the district headquarters under the new name.

Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar confirmed the decision, stating that it was made following due process. “Ramanagara city will remain the headquarters of the district. The Cabinet has decided to rename it as Bengaluru South district from today,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

However, the decision sparked controversy, with Union Minister and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy strongly opposing the move. He has vowed to reverse the decision if the opportunity arises.

The renaming has been seen by some as a strategic political step to integrate Ramanagara more closely with the capital’s administrative and economic structure.

Speaking on all-party delegations’ global outreach against Pakistan-backed terrorism, Azmi said, “It’s a good initiative, people should know the truth about Pakistan sheltering terrorism, and not giving up on supporting them even after several warnings.”

Mumbai, May 22: In a brilliant Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season in which he has emerged as the top scorer for Mumbai Indians and produced 25-plus scores in 12 matches in a row, Suryakumar Yadav’s wife Devisha spotted a big anomaly—the batter known for his 360-degree batting has not won a single Player of the Match award.

Suryakumar Yadav rectified that abnormality on Wednesday as he hammered a 43-ball 73 on a slightly sluggish wicket that was offering a turn to the spinners and helped Mumbai Indians reach 180/5, laying the foundation for a 59-run victory against Delhi Capitals in Match 63 of IPL 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium. He equalled the record for the most successive 25-plus scores in T20 cricket, joining Temba Bavuma at 13.

SKY and Naman Dhir hammered 48 runs in the last two overs, which lifted Mumbai Indians from 132/5 to 180 and gave the bowlers a good target to defend.

Mitchell Santner (3-11) and Jasprit Bumrah (3-12) then helped the five-time winners bundle out Delhi Capitals for 121, secure a 59-run win, and seal the fourth and final spot in the playoffs. Suryakumar Yadav was adjudged the Player of the Match (POTM) for his brilliant knock.

“It has been thirteen games now, my wife told me a sweet story. She said I have gotten all the awards, but not the POTM award. This award is really special today. From the team’s point of view, the knock was important today. And this trophy is for her (my wife), and it was important (for me) to play till the end,” said Suryakumar Yadav after accepting the award.

The 34-year-old batter, who is now third in the Orange Cap race with 583 runs, behind Gujarat Titans duo Sai Sudharsan (617) and Shubman Gill (601), said they will have their usual celebration with a big cake for this innings.

“She waits for such moments, and we celebrate them when we go back, so really looking forward to it. It was really important for a single batter to bat till the end – we knew there was a 15-20 run over somewhere. The way Naman came in and shared that energy with me (was great),” said Suryakumar Yadav.

Delhi Capitals’ stand-in captain Faf du Plessis felt that they were excelled in the field on Wednesday but were disappointed with the bat to lose the match.

He said his bowlers did well for most of the match but were undone by the way Suryakumar Yadav and Naman Dhir snatched it by hammering 48 runs in the last two overs.

“Momentum is a real thing in cricket. The way they counter-punched to get almost 50 in the last two overs…undoing the work of the first 17-18 overs, we lost that momentum. If you look at the two teams, it was a case of David and Goliath. I enjoy that because it gives you the opportunity to play as a team,” said the South African.

“Sums up our season – we have been cold either in the batting or the bowling in the last seven or eight games. Perhaps a fair reflection (that we did not qualify),” said Faf.

He admitted that Delhi Capitals missed their regular captain and top spinner Axar Patel on this wicket.

“Axar on a wicket like that, the way Mitchell Santner bowled…Axar is that kind of class, proven international bowler who, on a wicket like that, would have loved to bowl. But he was very sick. Starcy (Mitchell Starc) is a fantastic bowler, but a spinner on a wicket like this is worth gold. I am a big believer that you never take it (momentum) for granted,” said Faf du Plessis.