SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight ended in failure, with the spacecraft losing contact and breaking apart minutes after launch. The incident, which scattered debris over parts of the Caribbean, led to significant air traffic disruptions and reignited concerns over space debris management. The 403-foot (123-metre) rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas at 5:30 pm CT (6:30 p.m. ET). The first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, was successfully caught by mechanical arms at the launch pad — a crucial milestone for the company.
SpaceX’s Starship Explodes | Setback To Elon Musk
Why In News
- SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight ended in failure, with the spacecraft losing contact and breaking apart minutes after launch. The incident, which scattered debris over parts of the Caribbean, led to significant air traffic disruptions and reignited concerns over space debris management.
Starship Test Ends In Fiery Failure
- The 403-foot (123-metre) rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas at 5:30 pm CT (6:30 p.m. ET). The first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, was successfully caught by mechanical arms at the launch pad — a crucial milestone for the company.
- However, as the upper-stage Starship vehicle streaked eastward for what was intended to be a controlled descent over the Indian Ocean, engines began shutting down, leading to a loss of control.
- The spacecraft spun out before contact was lost roughly 9 minutes and 30 seconds into the flight. While Starship reached an altitude of nearly 90 miles (150 kilometres), it failed to deploy its four mock satellites before breaking apart.
- SpaceX’s colossal Starship spacecraft exploded in space, just minutes after launching from Texas, prompting the FAA to temporarily halt air traffic across parts of Florida. This marks the second consecutive failure this year for Elon Musk’s ambitious Mars rocket program.
- Multiple videos circulating on social media captured fiery debris streaking across the evening skies near South Florida and the Bahamas, following Starship’s breakup in space.
- Moments before the explosion, the spacecraft was seen spinning uncontrollably with its engines shut off, as shown in SpaceX’s live broadcast of the mission. This latest failure, the eighth Starship test, comes barely a month after the seventh ended in similar disaster. Both back-to-back failures occurred during early mission phases — stages that SpaceX had previously cleared without issue — highlighting a concerning setback for Musk’s accelerated timeline for the program.
- Standing at 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is a critical piece of Musk’s vision to land humans on Mars, a goal he hopes to achieve as early as the next decade.
Flight Disruptions, Airport Closures
- The explosion had immediate consequences for commercial air traffic. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted departures from four major Florida airports — Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Palm Beach — due to falling space debris.
- Departures at these airports were delayed by an average of 30 to 45 minutes before normal operations resumed at around 8 pm ET.
- Orlando International Airport posted on X that flights were briefly grounded due to “space launch debris in the area.” The FAA later confirmed that it had activated a debris response area, ensuring aircraft were redirected to avoid potential risks.
