A SpaceX Starship spacecraft, the upper portion of the most powerful launch system ever built, exploded during its eighth test flight Thursday, disrupting air traffic and marking the second consecutive failure for the vehicle this year.
The uncrewed Starship mission lifted off at
5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. ET) from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South
Texas, with the spacecraft riding atop a 232-foot-tall (71-meter-tall) Super
Heavy rocket booster.
After about 2 ½ minutes of firing, the Super
Heavy booster separated as planned from the Starship’s upper stage, setting
itself up for a successful landing within the “chopstick” arms of “Mechazilla,”
or SpaceX’s launch tower near Brownsville, Texas. It’s the third time SpaceX has successfully
executed the chopsticks booster catch.
But less than 10 minutes into the
flight, the Starship craft, which had continued on toward space, began to
experience issues. Several of the
vehicle’s engines visibly cut out during the livestream, and the ship began to
tumble before SpaceX lost contact with it.
“Once you lose enough of those center engines, you’re going to lose attitude control,” said Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager, on the livestream. “And so we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point, we have lost contact with the ship.”
The loss of signal occurred at
roughly the same point during this mission as with Flight 7 in January, when
Starship exploded over populated islands in Turks and Caicos, littering the
islands with debris.
It has not been confirmed where exactly the
vehicle exploded during Thursday’s mission.
But the explosion was visible from parts of Florida and over the
Caribbean, according to reports from residents of those locations that were
shared with CNN.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted
flights into Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Orlando airports Thursday
evening for “falling space debris” until 8 p.m.
ET.
The FAA also temporarily kept flights from
departing from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and Miami
International Airport. Flights leaving
those airports were still delayed on average by 30 and 45 minutes,
respectively, as of Thursday night.
“We’ve got a lot of measures in
place, like debris response areas, where we coordinate very closely with air
traffic control,” Huot said on the livestream.
“We have a lot of measures put (in place) before we ever launch a rocket
to make sure that we’re keeping the public safe. Those worked last time and they’re actively
in work right now.”
SpaceX shared an update with a few details on
the incident several hours after the flight.
“Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an
energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several
Raptor engines,” according to a statement from SpaceX. “This in turn led to a loss of attitude
control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship. Final contact with Starship came
approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.”
SpaceX said that Starship flew within a designated launch corridor.
“Any surviving debris would have fallen within
the pre-planned Debris Response Area,” according to the statement. “There are no toxic materials present in the
debris and no significant impacts expected to occur to marine species or water
quality. If you believe you have
identified a piece of debris, please contact your local authorities or the
SpaceX Debris Hotline at 1-866-623-0234.
Meanwhile, the FAA is requiring
SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle,
according to a statement released by the agency.
“A mishap investigation is designed to enhance
public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective
actions to avoid it from happening again,” according to the statement. “The FAA will be involved in every step of
the SpaceX-led mishap investigation process and must approve SpaceX’s final
report, including any corrective actions.
A return to flight is based on the FAA determining that any system,
process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety.”
Thursday’s launch was SpaceX’s second go at getting
Flight 8 off the ground. The company
waved off a Monday attempt due to “too many question marks,” according to
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
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