SpaceX Starship Disrupts Air Traffic when it Bursts in Midair During a Test Launch

During its eighth test flight Thursday, the upper part of the most potent launch system ever constructed, the SpaceX Starship spacecraft, exploded, causing air traffic to be disrupted and the vehicle’s second straight failure this year.

From SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas, the uncrewed Starship mission took off at 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. ET). The spacecraft was mounted on a 232-foot (71-meter) Super Heavy rocket booster.

When the Super Heavy booster fired for roughly two and a half minutes, it separated from the Starship’s upper stage as intended, preparing it for a successful landing inside the “chopstick” arms of “Mechazilla,” SpaceX’s launch tower near Brownsville, Texas. SpaceX has now successfully performed the chopsticks booster catch three times.

However, the Starship spaceship, which had proceeded toward space, started to encounter problems less than ten minutes into the voyage. During the video, some of the vehicle’s engines were clearly switched off, and the ship started to roll before SpaceX lost communication with it.

When debris scattered across the Turks and Caicos Islands in January, Flight 7 exploded, and the spacecraft’s failure point matched the prior incident.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented a flying halt at major Florida airports, including Fort Lauderdale and Miami, as well as Palm Beach and Orlando, to ensure safety until they verified there were no more falling debris. From the airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, the average departure delay was between thirty and forty-five minutes. The business assured the public that there was no health risk associated with wreckage sites or their materials.