The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded SpaceX’s Starship rocket after it exploded dramatically in its latest test flight on Thursday. The unmanned mission ended in an abrupt end when the upper stage of the rocket disintegrated over the Caribbean, prompting safety concerns and launching an investigation into the mishap.
The largest and most powerful rocket ever built, Starship, blasted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 17:38 EST (22:38 GMT). Some four minutes into flight, the upper stage successfully separated from its Super Heavy booster as planned. Within a few moments, however, SpaceX’s mission control lost communication with the upper stage, which ultimately suffered what the company called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
The explosion was so massive that it compelled all airline flights to reroute and evade falling debris. The FAA opened a “debris response area” in a bid to slow or halt the aircraft entering the affected zone. Several aircraft outside the restricted zone requested permission to divert, their fuel level critical, thereby bringing home the magnitude of the crisis.
Investigation And Preliminary Findings
The FAA has asked SpaceX to carry out a full “mishap” investigation, with its findings to be reviewed before approving Starship’s next flight. Authorities are also investigating reports of public property damage caused by debris from Starship on the Turks and Caicos Islands. However, no one has been injured.
In a post on his social media platform, X, SpaceX founder Elon Musk attributed the explosion to a suspected “oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall.” Despite the setback, Musk expressed optimism, stating that “nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”
Critical Mission Of SpaceX Fails
The Starship rocket is central to Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars and revolutionizing space travel. The test flight featured a taller, upgraded version of the rocket, with a new upper stage measuring two meters taller than its predecessors. According to SpaceX, this iteration was a “new generation ship with significant upgrades.”
The test was aimed to splash down in the Indian Ocean, around an hour after the launch. Although the upper stage failed, the Super Heavy booster successfully landed at the launchpad around seven minutes after takeoff, much to the delight of SpaceX ground control teams.
The Starship incident came at a very strategic time for Blue Origin, a space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The same day saw the launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket system, which is its first orbital flight. This milestone puts even more heat in the competition between Musk and Bezos, who are now both fighting for control of the market in space vehicles.
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