At 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. ET), the uncrewed Starship mission blasted out from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas. The spacecraft was mounted on a 232-foot (71-meter) Super Heavy rocket booster.
After igniting for roughly two and a half minutes, the Super Heavy booster successfully detached from the Starship's upper stage, positioning itself for a smooth landing inside the "chopstick" arms of Mechazilla, SpaceX's launch tower near Brownsville, Texas. SpaceX has already successfully performed the chopstick booster catch three times.
However, the Starship spaceship, which had proceeded toward space, started to encounter problems less than ten minutes into the voyage. During the video, some of the vehicle's engines were switched off, and the ship started to roll before SpaceX lost communication with it.
During the video, SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot stated, "Once you lose enough of those center engines, you're going to lose attitude control." "Therefore, we did witness the ship begin to spin, and we have since lost communication with the ship."
The signal outage happened around the same time as Flight 7 in January, when Starship detonated above-inhabited islands in Turks and Caicos, leaving debris all over the islands.
The precise location of the vehicle explosion during Thursday's mission is still unknown. CNN received accounts from locals in those areas that the explosion could be seen over the Caribbean and from sections of Florida.
Due to "falling space debris," the FAA suspended aircraft at Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Orlando airports until 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
Additionally, the FAA temporarily prohibited flights from Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. As of Thursday evening, the average delay for flights departing those airports remained at 30 and 45 minutes, respectively.
During the broadcast, Huot stated, "We have many measures in place, like debris response areas, where we coordinate very closely with air traffic control." Before launching a rocket, several safeguards ensure public safety. Those who worked previously are currently employed.
A few hours after the launch, SpaceX released an update that included some information about the mishap.
According to a statement from SpaceX, "multiple Raptor engines were lost due to an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship before the end of the ascent burn." This finally resulted in a lack of communication with Starship and a loss of attitude control. About 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff, Starship made its last contact.
Starship sailed within a designated launch corridor, according to SpaceX.
The statement stated that "any remaining debris would have fallen within the pre-planned Debris Response Area." The debris doesn't include any harmful compounds, and neither the water quality nor marine life is predicted to be significantly impacted. Please contact your local authorities or the SpaceX Debris Hotline at 1-866-623-0234 or recovery@spacex.com if you think you have located a piece of debris.
In the meantime, the FAA said in a statement that it is mandating that SpaceX conduct a mishap inquiry into the Starship vehicle's loss.
The statement went on to say that "a mishap investigation is designed to enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it happening again." "The FAA must accept SpaceX's final report, including any corrective steps, and will be involved in every stage of the SpaceX-led disaster investigation process. The FAA must decide that any system, operation, or process connected to the accident does not compromise public safety before allowing a return to flight.
SpaceX attempted to launch Flight 8 for the second time on Thursday. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, said the company canceled a Monday attempt because there were "too many question marks."
The Terrible Disaster of Flight 7
The launch on Thursday came seven weeks after Starship's seventh test flight was abruptly terminated by an explosive accident on January 16 that dumped debris over the Turks and Caicos islands.
The FAA, which authorizes the launch of commercial rockets, authorized SpaceX to launch Flight 8 on February 28 but is currently conducting an inquiry into the event. In a statement, the FAA stated that although the investigation into the Flight 7 accident was still underway, SpaceX had "met all safety, environmental, and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight."
The FAA informed the Turks and Caicos government that the archipelago was situated inside a potential hazard region associated with the Starship launch, the agency claimed in a statement to CNN following the January Flight 7 accident.
Additionally, the government stated that SpaceX had to plan out "hazard areas sufficient to ensure that the probability of casualty to a member of the public on land or board a maritime vessel does not exceed one in one million" before the test flight's launch.
According to the organization, "no Caribbean islands, including Turks and Caicos, exceeded this threshold."
Less than ten minutes into the flight, the seventh test flight exploded as well.
According to the business, the primary cause was a leak that happened in the back of the car next to a tank that held superchilled liquid oxygen, which is a type of rocket propellant.
Although there were no recorded injuries or property damage, one car was hit on the island of South Caicos, and debris briefly disrupted flights as air traffic controllers hurried to divert aircraft away from the explosion location.
But locals in the Turks and Caicos archipelago told CNN that they continue to discover spacecraft wreckage on roads and beaches. A debris recovery plan was developed in collaboration with SpaceX and the local government. Nevertheless, the plan's details have not been disclosed, and it is unclear who is footing the bill for the cleanup.
But locals in the Turks and Caicos archipelago told CNN that they continue to discover spacecraft wreckage on roads and beaches. A debris recovery plan was developed in collaboration with SpaceX and the local government. Nevertheless, the plan's details have not been disclosed, and it is unclear who is footing the bill for the cleanup.
Requests for comment on the plan were not answered by SpaceX or the government of Turks and Caicos.
A public notice about the Flight 8 incident was sent on Thursday by the Turks and Caicos government's Instagram account.
A public notice about the Flight 8 incident was sent on Thursday by the Turks and Caicos government's Instagram account.
The advisory stated, "We would like to notify the public that SpaceX's launch this evening appears to have broken up in flight." To verify the position, we are in communication with the UK agency heads, SpaceX, and the US FAA. Post-event procedures have been implemented. The public will continue to receive updates from the National Security Secretariat as we strive to guarantee the safety and security of our islands.
Why These Situations Differ
"Rapid iterative development" is the engineering and development philosophy that SpaceX has long adopted. The objective has been to quickly construct Starship prototypes and place them on the launchpad to detonate them.
The location and manner of the debris fall are what distinguish Thursday's flight from the previous Starship mission in January.
The location and manner of the debris fall are what distinguish Thursday's flight from the previous Starship mission in January.
Flight 7 in January and Flight 8 on Thursday both let Starship to fly out over the Atlantic and Caribbean before exploding close to populated islands, even though the initial test flight of Starship and Super Heavy destroyed a launchpad at SpaceX's Starbase facilities in 2023.
The accident on Thursday begs the concerns of whether experimental rockets should be permitted to fly over populous areas and why the FAA let Starship to launch before finishing its investigation into the Flight 7 accident.
The accident on Thursday begs the concerns of whether experimental rockets should be permitted to fly over populous areas and why the FAA let Starship to launch before finishing its investigation into the Flight 7 accident.
A series of upgrades
The purpose of Thursday's flying test was to test Starship so that mission crews could identify any vulnerabilities. To evaluate weak spots across the spacecraft, engineers have taken out a significant proportion of the heat shield tiles from Starship. When reentering Earth's atmosphere, the vehicle will encounter temperatures surpassing 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit (1,427 degrees Celsius), and the black hexagonal tiles are intended to protect it.
According to the business, the unsuccessful test flight in January prompted SpaceX to implement additional improvements and modifications, including new vents and a "purge system" intended to avert a fire.
According to the business, the unsuccessful test flight in January prompted SpaceX to implement additional improvements and modifications, including new vents and a "purge system" intended to avert a fire.
According to SpaceX, the lessons mission teams acquired from the Flight 7 accident led them to modify propellant temperatures and lines that supply fuel to several of Starship's engines. The vehicle's "operating thrust target," or the amount of power SpaceX wants the engines to produce while in flight, was also modified.
The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, has some improvements of its own, such as a more potent flight computer.
The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, has some improvements of its own, such as a more potent flight computer.
Starship intended to try launching a series of simulated Starlink satellites for the first time about 17½ minutes after takeoff. The demo satellites, like the spaceship, were not designed to go into orbit. However, Flight 8's goals were not tested before the tragedy, just like the seventh flight test.
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