US aviation authorities have temporarily halted flights at several Florida airports due to concerns about debris from SpaceX’s Starship, which spun out of control shortly after launch.
A ground stop was put in place at Orlando and Miami airports after the launch failed over the Atlantic Ocean. It has since been lifted. No injuries or damage have been reported.
SpaceX confirmed that the uncrewed ship underwent a “rapidly scheduled disintegration” during its ascent into space and lost contact with the ground.
A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said flights to and from the airport were being delayed due to a “space launch incident.” It was the rocket’s eighth test flight and its second consecutive failure.
The 123-meter (403-foot) spacecraft was scheduled to re-enter Earth orbit after an hour-long flight over the Indian Ocean.
Its superheavy booster, which helps it get off the ground, successfully re-entered the launch pad.
SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said teams immediately began coordinating with safety officials for a “pre-planned emergency response.”
The statement said SpaceX was reviewing data to “better understand the root cause” of the accident.
“As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will provide additional lessons to improve the reliability of Starship.”
Musk has yet to comment on Thursday’s explosion.
The incident follows a test in January in which a Starship rocket failed minutes after launch from SpaceX’s Texas facility.
The FAA also briefly closed airports at the time due to concerns about falling debris.
The FAA has suspended Starship launches since the January incident, noting that the failed attempt caused property damage on the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.
“Unfortunately, this is the last time this has happened, so we have some training for this,” SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot told reporters at the launch site on Thursday.
The footage posted on X was intended to show the burning rocket debris falling over the Caribbean Sea. In the Bahamas, people were seen running for cover from the debris.
Starship is the largest, most powerful rocket ever built and is key to Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket — collectively known as Starship — are fully reusable, the company says.
NASA hopes to use a modified version of the spacecraft as a human lunar lander for its Artemis missions to return to the Moon.
In the more distant future, Musk wants Starship to make long-distance trips to Mars and back — about nine months each way.
