SpaceX’s seventh test flight of its Starship rocket ended with an unintended fireworks display. This means that the rocket exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, sending a magnificent stream of debris raining down through the Earth’s atmosphere.
It is not clear what caused the explosion, but the event was recorded on video by people on the ground who forced the planes to change course to avoid the extremely hot parts caused by the falling missiles.
The spacecraft was launched from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas at 4:37 pm local time on Thursday. The company’s Makazela Tower I managed to catch up Starship’s super-heavy booster (233 feet, or 71 meters) long is a calling card for SpaceX’s attempt to make spaceflight a more cost-effective and sustainable endeavor.
SpaceX lost telemetry with the vehicle before the burn phase was completed. This happened about 8.5 minutes into the flight. “Preliminary data indicates a fire occurred in the aft portion of the vessel, resulting in a rapid, unscheduled disassembly,” according to a SpaceX release.
In other words, the rocket’s upper stage exploded during flight. Footage of the explosion and its aftermath looks like something out of science fiction: bright orange-yellow streaks of light streaking across the sky as many alien spacecraft might. Observers on the ground in Turks and Caicos and passengers on cruise ships in the Caribbean captured the dramatic footage.
This is the moment when Ship 33 had a RUD accident. https://t.co/in2nZBWNV8 pic.twitter.com/iI7DtLiZlE
— Felix Space Time (@Space_Time3) January 16, 2025
But the rocket’s explosive finish wasn’t just a light show. The FAA stated that it “slowed the aircraft and briefly turned it around the area where spacecraft debris was falling,” as the remains of the spacecraft created a “hazardous debris fall area.” Aviation radar trackers showed a handful of planes heading toward eastern Turks and Caicos around the time of the explosion.
CNBC I mentioned The Federal Aviation Administration received no reports of injuries or property damage, although flights were delayed and diverted as a result of the explosion. American Airlines told CNBC it had fewer than 10 flights diverted, while Delta had four flights diverted. According to flight tracking websites, at least one cargo plane reversed course and one Spirit Airlines flight changed course. This chaos is understandable. No one wants to fly a plane through missile debris.
– Andres (@_thatonedolphin) January 17, 2025
“The spacecraft flew within its designated launch lane – as all US launches do to protect the public whether on land, in the water or in the air,” the SpaceX statement added. “Any remaining pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated danger zone.”
On website Musk added that there is nothing in the way Flight 7 developed that would indicate that the spacecraft’s next launch would need to be postponed to last February.
On Earth, Starship’s seventh flight was a success. The chopstick-like arms of the Mechazilla tower successfully grabbed the rocket’s very heavy booster and secured it from the air. Skyward, the seventh flight was a failure. That’s what you call it when your rocket explodes and metal falls to the ground. But SpaceX will take it seriously. “Success comes from what we learn, and this flight test will help us improve Starship reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” the company statement said.
In a related context, the Australian airline Qantas was forced to postpone several flights between Australia and South Africa in recent weeks due to warnings of possible space debris related to SpaceX launches. I mentioned In The Guardian.
This latest incident could lead to a lengthy FAA investigation. We’ve seen it before: Last year, SpaceX had to implement more than Dozens of corrective actions After an FAA investigation into Starship’s second flight, in November 2023, among other investigations led to failed tests.
The company is undoubtedly making progress when it comes to launching reusable rockets. Spacecraft are a powerful launch vehicle, as evidenced by NASA’s investment in spacecraft for its Artemis program to return humans to the Moon.
But SpaceX did it Blown past Its initial goals are to send humans to Mars in 2022 and send a billionaire and a handful of artists around the moon (2023). As Inverse reported, 2025 is the earliest Elon Musk has previously stated the possibility of establishing a colony on Mars, with a settlement on the barren, cold, dusty world by the end of the decade. The clock is ticking, Mr. Musk.
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