SpaceX’s Starship suffered a catastrophic failure during launch, scattering debris over the Caribbean and grounding flights in Florida. The FAA is investigating
For the second time in a row, SpaceX’s Starship rocket has ended in disaster, exploding mid-flight and scattering fiery debris across the Caribbean. The uncrewed spacecraft, the largest rocket ever built, lost control and disintegrated shortly after launching from Texas on Thursday.
Videos posted online showed fragments of the spacecraft raining down over the Bahamas and nearby islands. Residents in some areas reportedly took shelter as debris fell from the sky. No injuries or significant damage have been reported so far.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately grounded Starship flights and halted air traffic at several Florida airports, including Miami and Orlando, citing concerns over falling wreckage. This marks the second consecutive failure of a Starship test flight, following a similar explosion in January.
SpaceX confirmed the failure, describing it as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”—a term the company often uses for catastrophic malfunctions. The cause of the explosion remains unclear, but SpaceX acknowledged the loss of “several” engines during ascent. The company is now analysing flight data to determine what went wrong.
“As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability,” SpaceX said in a statement. The company insisted that debris had fallen within a pre-planned area and contained no hazardous materials.
The latest failure raises further concerns about the safety and viability of SpaceX’s ambitious plans for Starship. NASA has contracted a modified version of the spacecraft for its Artemis missions to the Moon, while Elon Musk has repeatedly pitched Starship as the key to human colonisation of Mars.
However, setbacks have piled up. The January explosion led to property damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting an FAA investigation. The agency had not yet completed its review of that incident before Thursday’s launch, raising questions about SpaceX’s testing practices.
The government of the Turks and Caicos has said it is in contact with US authorities and SpaceX to assess any potential impact from this latest failure. The FAA has launched another investigation, and Starship will remain grounded until the probe is complete.
Despite the repeated failures, Musk and SpaceX remain committed to pushing forward. The company has touted Starship’s fully reusable design as a game-changer for space exploration. But for now, the dream of interplanetary travel remains firmly grounded.
