SpaceX’s Starship Explodes Near Bahamas After Breakup In Space | Video

Last Updated:March 07, 2025, 07:25 IST

The Starship's Super Heavy booster separated from the upper stage after about 2 ½ minutes of firing

While the company was successful in capturing a booster from the rocket as it returned to the launch tower, the Starship spacecraft was lost.

SpaceX launched the eighth integrated test flight of its massive Starship mega-rocket system, with the goal of stress-testing the spacecraft and meeting objectives that were not achieved during the fiery test in January. However, similar to the seventh test flight, the eighth flight also resulted in the loss of the Starship vehicle.

While the company was successful in capturing a booster from the rocket as it returned to the launch tower, the Starship spacecraft was lost.

The uncrewed mission lifted off at 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. ET) from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The company had stood down from a Tuesday launch attempt due to “too many question marks," according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, that led to a scrub.

The Starship spacecraft, also referred to as the upper stage, rode atop the 232-foot-tall (71-meter-tall) Super Heavy rocket booster. Super Heavy separated from the upper stage after about 2 ½ minutes of firing.

Then, the booster set itself up for a successful landing within the “chopstick" arms of “Mechazilla," or SpaceX’s launch tower, near Brownsville, Texas.

The feat means that SpaceX has successfully caught a Super Heavy booster using the chopsticks three times now.

Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft fired its own engines, setting up to fly on a suborbital trajectory for about an hour. Starship was only about 20 seconds away from the end of its ascent burn when SpaceX lost contact with the ship. Several of the engines visibly cut out during the livestream.

“Once you lose enough of those center engines, you’re going to lose attitude control," said SpaceX’s Dan Huot. “And so we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point, we have lost contact with the ship."

About 17 ½ minutes after lifting off, Starship was planning to attempt to deploy a batch of mock Starlink satellites for the first time. Like the spacecraft, the demo satellites weren’t intended to reach orbit.

SpaceX’s key test objectives for Starship’s eighth test flight, including an attempt to reignite a single Starship engine in space, were largely similar to those from January since Flight 7 got cut short when it ended in flames.

The loss of signal occurred at roughly the same point during this mission as with Flight 7, when Starship exploded over populated islands in Turks and Caicos, littering the islands with debris and striking a car.

It has not been confirmed where exactly the vehicle exploded during today’s mission. But the explosion was visible from parts of Florida and occurred over the Caribbean, according to reports from residents of those locations shared with CNN.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights into Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Orlando airports for “falling space debris" until 8 p.m. ET.

The FAA also kept flights from departing from Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport and Miami Airport. Flights leaving those airports are still delayed on average by 30 and 45 minutes, respectively.

“We’ve got a lot of measures in place, like debris response areas, where we coordinate very closely with air traffic control," Huot said. “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."

The company shared an update on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, after the explosion.

“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," SpaceX posted. “We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability."

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."

New York, United States of America (USA)

News world SpaceX’s Starship Explodes Near Bahamas After Breakup In Space | Video