Follow CNN’s live coverage of the SpaceX Starship flight test.
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SpaceX launched the eighth integrated test flight of its gargantuan Starship megarocket system Thursday night. But rather than achieving objectives that fell short during its previous fiery test in January, 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, resulting in a fiery explosion and disruptions to air traffic over Florida.
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 Monday 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.
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 Dan Huot, SpaceX communications manager. “And so we did see the ship start to go into a spin, and at this point, we have lost contact with the ship.”
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 International Airport and Miami International 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 several hours after the flight.
“Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines,” according to a statement from SpaceX. “This in turn led to a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship. Final contact with Starship came approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.”
SpaceX said that Starship flew within a designated launch corridor to ensure the safety of the public.
“Any surviving debris would have fallen within the pre-planned Debris Response Area,” according to the statement. “There are no toxic materials present in the debris and no significant impacts expected to occur to marine species or water quality. If you believe you have identified a piece of debris, please contact your local authorities or the SpaceX Debris Hotline at 1-866-623-0234 or at recovery@spacex.com.”
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 Turks and Caicos government account shared an advisory to the public regarding the incident on Instagram.
“We wish to advise the public that this evening’s SpaceX launch appears to have broken up in flight,” the advisory read. “We are in contact with the US FAA, SpaceX and UK agency leads to confirm the position. Post incident protocols have been engaged. The National Security Secretariat will continue to keep the public apprised as we work to ensure the safety and security of our Islands.”
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.
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.
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.
The Super Heavy booster separated as planned 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.
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. But similar to the seventh flight test, Flight 8’s objectives were not tested before the incident occurred.
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.
CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
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