Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly

About

Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly is a catchphrase that refers to a convoluted way to say the word "disaster" or "explosion" and is used in memes to make fun of an April 2023 tweet from SpaceX about the then-recent explosion of its Starship rocket during a test launch in Texas. The phrase was satirically used on Twitter following the event as a way to make fun of Elon Musk and SpaceX's exploding spacecraft.

Origin

On April 20th, 2023, the Twitter^[1] account of @SpaceX posted a tweet about the then-recent failure of its spacecraft and super heavy rocket (collectively referred to as Starship) in the later part of its test flight that launched in Texas (though the company claimed the launch itself was a success). The tweet stated, "As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation," gaining roughly 66,900 likes in one day (shown below).

Soon after the tweet's upload, various Twitter users started to use the phrase "rapid unscheduled disassembly" ironically, using it as a replacement for the word "disaster" or "explosion" as a way to point out SpaceX's choice of words when announcing the final moments of its test results.

The first known user to make a joke of this nature was Twitter^[2] user @MKBHD at around 9:41 a.m. EST on April 20th, 2023, writing, "'Rapid unscheduled disassembly' is such a friendly way of saying 'it blew up, but we learned a lot on the way,'" gaining roughly 22,800 likes in one day (shown below).

Spread

About an hour later on April 20th, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @JUNlPER quote retweeted SpaceX's tweet^[1] with a picture of the Twin Towers falling on 9/11, dubbing the disaster "a rapid unscheduled disassembly," and gaining roughly 39,500 likes in one day (shown below, left). Similar comparisons surfaced on the day of, such as a tweet sent by Twitter^[4] user @VeryBadLlama on April 20th that namedropped the Titanic disaster, gaining roughly 3,200 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Others used the phrase "rapid unscheduled disassembly" to make fun of Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, essentially labeling his ownership and time as Twitter CEO a "disaster." The first-known user to make the comparison was Twitter^[5] user @Angry_Staffer at around 9:46 a.m. EST on April 20th, gaining roughly 2,700 likes in one day (shown below).

The memes spread to other social media sites as well. For instance, the Facebook ^[6] page The Other 98% posted an Apu Takes A Bullet meme about the situation on April 20th, gaining roughly 7,100 reactions in one day (shown below). Memes also surfaced on Instagram. ^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References