A SpaceX Starship rocket disintegrated in space just minutes after its launch from Texas, USA, yesterday. This incident prompted airlines to reroute flights over the Gulf of Mexico to steer clear of potential falling debris, impacting Elon Musk’s flagship rocket program.
After liftoff from its southern Texas launch site, SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, which was carrying its first test payload of mock satellites and no crew, a mere eight minutes into the flight.
Footage captured orange streaks of light blurring across the sky above the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, with trails of smoke trailing behind.
“We did lose all communications with the ship – this essentially indicates that we encountered an anomaly with the upper stage,” stated SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot, who later confirmed the loss of the ship.
The previous failure of a Starship upper stage was recorded in March of last year while reentering Earth’s atmosphere above the Indian Ocean. However, SpaceX mishaps rarely cause significant disruptions to air traffic.
As reported by FlightRadar24, numerous commercial flights were rerouted or changed course to evade possible debris. Additionally, departures from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida faced delays of approximately 45 minutes.
Elon Musk has consistently criticized the Federal Aviation Administration for ‘overreaching.’
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees private launch activities, stated it temporarily slowed and diverted planes in the vicinity where the space debris was descending. Normal operations have since resumed.
While the FAA routinely temporarily closes airspace for space launches and reentries, it can establish a “debris response area” to restrict aircraft access if a space vehicle experiences an anomaly beyond the initially designated zone.
SpaceX CEO Mr. Musk shared a video on X showcasing the debris field, commenting, “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
The failure occurred just one day after Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its massive New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time.
The Starship’s upper stage, standing 2 meters taller than its predecessors, was described as a “new generation ship with significant upgrades” in a mission briefing prior to the test. It was expected to achieve a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean roughly an hour after its Texas launch.
According to Mr. Musk, a preliminary investigation into the failure revealed that an internal leak of liquid oxygen fuel caused pressure to build up, leading to the rocket’s disintegration.
The FAA is expected to initiate a mishap investigation, which may ground the Starship—an action it has taken in the past—and analyze whether any debris from the mid-flight explosion landed in populated areas or outside the rocket’s predetermined hazard zone.
This incident poses a risk to Mr. Musk’s ambition to conduct at least 12 Starship tests this year, contingent on how fast SpaceX can implement corrections and the FAA’s decisions regarding a mishap investigation.
“So far, nothing suggests that the next launch will be pushed past next month,” Mr. Musk mentioned.
The billionaire, who was appointed to a new government cost-cutting role by US President-elect Donald Trump, has frequently criticized the FAA for overreaching and making politically motivated choices.
In September, Mr. Musk called for the resignation of FAA chief Mike Whitaker shortly after the FAA imposed a fine on SpaceX and delayed one of its launches. Mr. Whitaker announced in December that he would step down before President Trump’s term begins, although a replacement has not yet been appointed.
The mission marked SpaceX’s seventh Starship test since 2023 in Mr. Musk’s multi-billion-dollar initiative to develop a rocket capable of transporting humans and cargo to Mars, as well as deploying substantial batches of satellites into Earth’s orbit.
