A SpaceX starship explosion on Thursday resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily grounding flights in Florida.
According to a SpaceX press release, the company’s eighth flight test for “Starship” started at roughly 6:30 p.m. on Thursday. SpaceX noted that the company’s “Super Heavy booster” was able to successfully use its 33 Raptor engines to propel the spacecraft through a “nominal first-stage ascent” prior to the explosion.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, SpaceX said, “During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.”
“We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause,” SpaceX added. “As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.”
In SpaceX’s press release, the company explained that an “energetic event” caused the Starship to lose multiple Raptor engines during the ascent burn, leading to a “loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship” just minutes after liftoff.
A video shared on social media shows the fiery debris of the spacecraft explosion falling back to the Earth.
According to Fox 35, following Thursday evening’s Starship explosion, the Federal Aviation Administration activated a Debris Response Area, diverted planes, and issued ground stops at the Miami International Airport, the Orlando International Airport, the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and the Palm Beach International Airport. The outlet noted that the Federal Aviation Administration lifted the ground stops shortly after 8 p.m. on Thursday.
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A video shared by SpaceX shows the SpaceX booster successfully returning to land after disconnecting from the Starship roughly two and a half minutes into Thursday’s test flight. In the video, a woman can be heard explaining how the booster engines were used to successfully maneuver the booster into position to be caught by the company’s Mechazilla structure.
Despite Thursday’s explosion, SpaceX celebrated the Starship’s eighth test flight, saying, “With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.” Addressing the explosion, SpaceX added, “We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.”
Source: American Military News