The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced on Friday that it is grounding SpaceX’s Starship megarocket pending an investigation by Elon Musk’s company into why the rocket’s upper module, an improved version, disintegrated on Thursday over the Caribbean during its final test flight.
The unmanned device, the most ambitious ever built, exploded about eight minutes after takeoff from Boca Chica (Texas, USA) on Thursday at around 11:37 p.m. Spanish peninsular time. It was about 143 kilometers high and was flying at more than 19,000 kilometers per hour.
The rain of debris from the ship caused dozens of planes to be diverted in the area. “There are no reports of public injuries, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and the appropriate authorities to confirm reports of damage to public property in the Turks and Caicos Islands (a British-controlled archipelago),” the FAA said. During the event, the organization briefly activated a ‘Debris Response Area’ protocol to slow aircraft outside the area where the rocket pieces were falling, or stop aircraft at their exit location. “Several aircraft requested to divert due to low fuel levels while staying out of the impacted areas,” he explained.
Under the procedure, SpaceX will be required to conduct an “accident investigation,” including the identification of any corrective actions, which the FAA will review before determining that the launch vehicle can fly again. Ultimately, SpaceX can apply to return to flight if it completes a presentation showing that it has taken preventive measures and that the accident did not endanger public safety.
The Turks and Caicos Islands government confirmed the diversion of all flights during the incident, which lit up social media with stunning photos and videos of the meteor-like debris shower. Officials also met with experts from the UK Space Agency and reiterated warnings to residents to avoid fallen debris.
“If possible, take a photograph of the object (without touching it) next to another object to get an idea of scale,” a public notice said, emphasizing that “space debris remains the property of the owner of the spacecraft.”
Thursday’s uncrewed launch was Starship’s seventh orbital test, and the first involving a taller, improved version of the rocket. SpaceX, which dominates the commercial launch market through its Falcon 9 rocket, underlined its technical prowess by trapping Starship’s first-stage booster in the ‘stick’ arms of its launch tower for the second time.
But the victory was short-lived, as the teams lost contact with the vehicle’s upper stage. SpaceX later confirmed that it had undergone an “unscheduled rapid disassembly,” the company’s euphemism for an explosion.
The explosion is the first major setback for Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, key to Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars. Meanwhile, NASA hopes to use a modified version of the rocket as a lunar lander for its crewed Artemis missions to return to the Moon.
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