SpaceX’s large Starship spacecraft exploded in area on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, prompting the US Federal Aviation Administration to halt air visitors in components of Florida, within the second straight failure this yr for Elon Musk’s Mars rocket programme.
A number of movies on social media confirmed fiery particles streaking by means of the nightfall skies close to south Florida and the Bahamas after Starship broke up in area shortly after it started to spin uncontrollably with its engines minimize off, a SpaceX stay stream of the mission confirmed.
The failure of the eighth Starship check comes simply over a month after the seventh additionally resulted in an explosive failure. The back-to-back mishaps occurred in early mission phases that SpaceX has simply surpassed beforehand, a setback for a programme Musk had sought to hurry up this yr.
The 123m-tall rocket system is central to Musk’s plan to ship people to Mars as quickly because the flip of the last decade.
The FAA briefly issued floor stops on the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Seaside and Orlando airports due to “area launch particles”. It stated it had opened a mishap investigation into the incident.
The rocket lifted off about 6.30pm native time (1.30am SAST) from SpaceX’s sprawling Boca Chica, Texas rocket amenities. The Tremendous Heavy first-stage booster flew again to Earth as deliberate and was efficiently grabbed in midair by a SpaceX crane.
However minutes later, SpaceX’s livestream confirmed the Starship higher stage spinning in area, whereas a visualisation of the rocket’s engines confirmed a number of engines shut down. Then the corporate stated it had misplaced contact with the ship, and announcers instantly drew a connection to the earlier flight.
‘Lack of angle management’
“Sadly this occurred final time, too, so we’ve obtained some follow now,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot stated on the livestream.
In an announcement late on Thursday, SpaceX stated Starship skilled an “energetic occasion” in its aft part, which resulted within the lack of a number of engines.
“This in flip led to a lack of angle management and finally a lack of communications with Starship,” the assertion stated. “Ultimate contact with Starship got here roughly 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.”
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SpaceX stated there have been no poisonous supplies among the many particles.
The Starship failure in January ended eight minutes into flight when the rocket exploded, raining particles over Caribbean islands and inflicting minor harm to a automobile within the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The FAA, which regulates non-public rocket launches, stated its investigation would require SpaceX to look at the failure’s trigger and get the company’s sign-off earlier than Starship can fly once more.
The FAA final month accepted SpaceX’s launch licence for Thursday’s check flight whereas its investigation into the corporate’s earlier Starship failure remained open. In doing so, the FAA stated it had reviewed SpaceX’s licence software and early particulars from the corporate’s mishap investigation earlier than figuring out that Starship’s eighth flight might proceed.
Starship was aiming to make almost a full orbit round Earth and re-enter over the Indian Ocean for a splashdown, simulating a touchdown sequence that SpaceX needs to quickly perform on land as a key subsequent part of the rocket’s growth. — Joey Roulette and David Shepardson, (c) 2025 Reuters
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