Washington : A SpaceX Starship rocket disintegrated in space shortly after its launch from Texas on Thursday, prompting airlines to modify their flight paths over the Gulf of Mexico to evade falling debris and hindering the progress of Elon Musk’s prominent rocket initiative. SpaceX mission control lost communication with the upgraded Starship, which was carrying its inaugural test payload of mock satellites and no crew, approximately eight minutes post-launch from its South Texas facilities at 5:38 PM EST (2238 GMT). Footage captured by Reuters depicted bright orange lights traversing the sky above Port-au-Prince, Haiti, leaving behind trails of smoke. SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot confirmed the loss of contact, indicating that this incident signified an anomaly with the upper stage of the rocket. The previous failure of a Starship upper stage occurred in March of the previous year during its reentry into Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean; however, such incidents have seldom resulted in significant disruptions to air traffic. According to the flight tracking service FlightRadar24, numerous commercial flights were rerouted or adjusted their courses to avoid potential debris, with departures from Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, experiencing delays of approximately 45 minutes. The Federal Aviation Administration, responsible for overseeing private launch operations, temporarily slowed and redirected aircraft in the vicinity of the falling debris, although normal flight operations have since resumed.
SpaceX’s Starship, developed by Elon Musk, experienced an explosion during a flight test
