SpaceX’s Starship exploded in space on Thursday, marking the second failure this year in Elon Musk’s Mars rocket programme. The spacecraft lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. ET (2330 GMT). The Super Heavy booster detached successfully and returned to Earth as planned. However, the upper stage lost control in space, leading to an “energetic event” that shut down multiple engines and caused a total loss of communication.
The explosion prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to halt air traffic in parts of Florida, including Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando. Videos on social media showed fiery debris falling over southern Florida and the Bahamas. SpaceX’s live broadcast captured the spacecraft spinning uncontrollably before breaking apart.
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Dan Huot, a SpaceX spokesperson, commented during the live stream, “Unfortunately, this happened last time too, so we’ve got some practice now.” In January, a similar Starship failure caused debris to fall over Caribbean islands, damaging a vehicle in Turks and Caicos. SpaceX has assured that this debris does not contain toxic materials.
The FAA has launched an investigation and will require SpaceX to identify the cause before another test flight. Despite these setbacks, SpaceX remains committed to making Starship a fully reusable system for interplanetary travel. Thursday’s test aimed to simulate an orbital flight and re-entry over the Indian Ocean, a critical step for future missions.
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