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

Last Updated:March 07, 2025, 07:20 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 gargantuan Starship megarocket system Thursday night, aiming to stress-test the spacecraft and achieve objectives that fell short during its previous fiery test in January. But like the seventh test flight, the eighth flight also ended with a 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."

A series of upgrades

Thursday’s flight test was intended to put Starship through its paces so mission teams could zero in on weak points. Engineers have removed a large number of heat shield tiles from Starship to test vulnerable areas across the spacecraft. The black hexagonal tiles are designed to protect the vehicle as it experiences temperatures exceeding 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit (1,427 degrees Celsius) when reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

The company also added new tile options, including a metallic one that offers active cooling, to see which materials can best protect the spacecraft.

The failed test flight in January spurred SpaceX to make other upgrades and changes, including new vents and a “purge system" designed to prevent a fire, according to the company.

SpaceX said what mission teams learned prompted them to alter lines that feed fuel to some of Starship’s engines and tweak propellant temperatures. Another change adjusted the vehicle’s “operating thrust target" — or how much power SpaceX aims for the engines to generate during flight. Starship also stands 6.5 feet (2 meters) taller than before with about 25% more propellant volume, which could enable the spacecraft to fly longer missions in the future.

Starship’s forward flaps, which replace the need for wings and reduce fuel needed for landing, are now smaller and shifted toward the top of the vehicle away from the heat shield. This design upgrade aims to reduce the flaps’ exposure to heating during reentry.

Meanwhile, the Super Heavy booster has some upgrades of its own, including a more powerful flight computer.

SpaceX also shared on Monday that the company is expanding Starship operations to Florida, building a new facility called Gigabay next to its current HangarX location at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The expansion will enable SpaceX to increase the amount of Starship vehicles it’s able to build and fly, according to the company.

Flight 7’s fiery mishap

Thursday’s launch occured seven weeks after an explosive mishap prematurely ended Starship’s seventh test flight, raining debris over the islands of Turks and Caicos on January 16.

The Federal Aviation Administration — which licenses commercial rocket launches — is overseeing an investigation into the incident, but the agency gave SpaceX the green light February 28 to launch Flight 8. The agency noted that the probe into the Flight 7 mishap was ongoing, but the FAA determined SpaceX had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight," according to a statement.

The seventh test flight exploded less than 10 minutes into flight.

The company believes a leak occurred in the rear section of the vehicle near a tank containing superchilled liquid oxygen, or a form of rocket propellant. The leak likely led to an increase in pressure, and a fire broke out, according to a statement released by SpaceX. Vibrations several times stronger than previously seen during testing may have increased stress on the propulsion system and served as the root cause, according to the company.

Built-in safety systems triggered automatically in response. Such systems typically include software that blows up malfunctioning vehicles to prevent large pieces of debris from hitting the ground.

While no property damage or injuries were reported, one vehicle was struck on the island of South Caicos, and debris caused brief flight disruptions as air traffic controllers rushed to reroute planes away from the site of the explosion.

However, residents of the archipelago of Turks and Caicos told CNN they are still finding debris from the spacecraft littering beaches and roadways. The local government worked with SpaceX to craft a debris recovery plan. However, the contents of the plan have not been made public and it’s not clear who is paying for the cleanup effort.

Neither SpaceX nor the Turks and Caicos government responded to requests for comment.

New York, United States of America (USA)

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