The ship from Elon Musk’s company had taken off from the base in Boca Chica, Texas, but a few minutes later it lost contact and exploded, scattering debris over a wide area of southern Florida and the Bahamas.
SpaceX ‘s Starship rocket lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, but lost contact and exploded a few minutes later, just as it did in a test last January.
The explosion sent debris raining down on South Florida and the Bahamas, forcing the temporary closure of four airports, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
The spacecraft lifted off at 18:30 local time from Starbase on the Mexican border. The rocket’s first stage, the Super Heavy booster, managed to return to base and was caught by the pincer recovery system. However, the upper stage lost contact and exploded, scattering debris over a wide area of southern Florida.
Following the explosion, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered flight restrictions at airports in Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, resulting in delays of approximately 45 minutes in commercial flight departures.
“The ban follows the failed launch of SpaceX’s Starship, which took off from Starbase in South Texas,” the FAA said on its X account.
The agency also activated a debris response area, temporarily slowing aircraft in the affected area or stopping them at their departure airports. Tampa International Airport, while not directly affected, had two flights diverted from Miami due to the emergency.
The FAA had already launched an investigation into the explosion in January and has now demanded that SpaceX conduct a thorough analysis of the failure in Thursday’s test.
Witnesses in Florida reported seeing debris from the craft crashing into roads and residential areas. Drivers and passersby described the scene as a “ship adrift,” causing confusion among residents. Residents in Madeira Beach and Tampa, on Tampa Bay, reported seeing the explosion in the sky.
According to Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, police and fire officials have received multiple calls from people concerned about falling debris in different areas of the city.
Meanwhile, in the Bahamas, fishermen on the high seas captured on video what they described as “a fireball disintegrating over the ocean,” referring to the explosion of the ship.
As on previous occasions, Elon Musk ‘s company did not use the term “explosion” but instead described the incident as a “rapid and unforeseen disassembly” following the loss of contact with the operations center in Texas.
In these last two failed tests, SpaceX expected the deployment of payloads, in this case four simulated Starlink satellites, which represented a key step in the development of the launch system. However, the company did not confirm whether the satellites separated before the explosion.
The FAA will continue its investigation to determine the cause of the failure and evaluate possible restrictions on future SpaceX launches.
It is important to mention that the Starship rocket, designed for long-range travel, is intended to transport crews and large satellites. In this test, the ship was to fly in a suborbital trajectory for about an hour, before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
In the seventh test, carried out on 16 January, the craft also exploded before completing its trajectory, prompting air restrictions in the Caribbean. These test flights are not intended to reach orbit, but to circle the planet and descend in the Indian Ocean, with the booster facing forward and decelerated by rockets.