SpaceX Starship Explodes Again After Launch, Scorching Debris Slices Across the Sky.

On Thursday, March 6, the giant interstellar spacecraft known as Starship, launched by Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX, exploded in space just minutes after lifting off from Texas. The incident caused the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt air traffic in parts of Florida. This marks the second explosion of the year for the Starship, a crucial part of Musk’s Mars rocket plan.

SpaceX’s live broadcast showed the Starship breaking apart in space, engines shutting down, and beginning an uncontrolled spin, with fiery debris streaking across the evening sky near South Florida and the Bahamas.

This was the eighth comprehensive test flight of SpaceX’s massive rocket system aimed at conducting pressure tests on the spacecraft. However, similar to the seventh test flight in January, the eighth flight also ended in the explosion of the Starship.

The 123-meter-long rocket system is a core part of Musk’s plan to send humans to Mars by 2020. The Starship, also known as the rocket upper stage, is carried on top of a 71-meter-tall Super Heavy booster rocket. About two and a half minutes after launch, the Super Heavy rocket separates from the upper stage.

Subsequently, the booster successfully landed inside the “chopsticks” arms of SpaceX’s launch tower “Mechazilla” near Brownsville, Texas. This feat marked the third successful catch of the Super Heavy booster using the chopsticks.

Meanwhile, the Starship ignited its own engines, preparing to fly for about an hour in suborbital space. When SpaceX lost contact with the spacecraft, there were only about 20 seconds left in the ascent burn. Several engines were visibly shut down during the live stream.

“Once you lose enough central engines, you lose your attitude control,” said SpaceX’s Dan Huot. “So we did see the vehicle start to tip…at that point, we had already lost telemetry with the vehicle.”

In a statement, SpaceX said, “During the ascent phase of the flight, the Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and loss of mission.” The team immediately began coordinating with safety officials to implement pre-planned emergency responses.

It is unclear if the explosion was triggered by SpaceX’s automated flight termination system, which is designed to activate in case of rocket failure. Signs of malfunction were evident before the explosion. The specific location of the spacecraft’s explosion during today’s launch mission has not been confirmed yet. However, according to reports provided by local residents to CNN, parts of Florida witnessed the explosion, which occurred over the Caribbean Sea.

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily banned flights at airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Orlando due to “space launch debris.” The agency has launched an investigation into the incident.

The goal of the Starship was to orbit the Earth and then re-enter over the Indian Ocean to simulate a landing sequence that SpaceX hopes to execute soon on land, representing the next crucial phase in rocket development.