The Federal Aviation Administration says SpaceX and Blue Origin should investigate large rocket tests this week

The Federal Aviation Administration asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to investigate what went wrong on their massive rocket test flights this week.

Organizer Both companies said What is known as a “mishap investigation” must be conducted. These investigations involve companies and the FAA working together to understand what went wrong, why the error occurred, and taking corrective action. Either way, the regulator will have to sign off on the companies before those rockets can fly again. It is not immediately clear how long this will take.

In the case of SpaceX, an explosion occurred during the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket system, which launched from Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday. Musk books In X, the spacecraft itself became overpressurized by excess gas as it ascended into space, and eventually exploded. The official company clarification It says on its website that the interior of the ship caught fire.

The destruction of the spacecraft created a debris field that lit up the skies over the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to decide Slow and even divert some flights In the near airspace due to low fuel levels. There are no reports of injuries, according to the FAA, but the regulator said it is working with SpaceX “to confirm reports of damage to public property in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

SpaceX and the FAA already appear to be at odds over certain details about the explosion. The FAA has technically activated what’s known as a “debris response zone,” which the agency says it only does if pieces of the spacecraft fall outside of danger zones identified before launch. SpaceX insists on its website that “any remaining pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated danger zone.”

Hours before SpaceX’s launch, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to… First time ever. The New Glenn rocket’s upper stage successfully reached orbit, but the booster exploded on its return to Earth during an attempt to land on a drone ship at sea.

The FAA says it is “aware that an anomaly occurred during the Blue Origin mission,” and that no injuries or damage to public property were reported.