SpaceX says fire could have caused Starship to break, spew debris near Caribbean

SpaceX says a occurrence mightiness person caused its Starship to interruption during liftoff and nonstop trails of flaming debris adjacent the Caribbean.

SpaceX's Elon Musk said preliminary indications are that leaking substance built up unit successful the cavity supra the motor firewall. The resulting occurrence would person doomed the spacecraft.

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered SpaceX to analyse what went wrong. The FAA said determination were nary reports of injuries from Starship debris.

The 400-foot Starship — the world's biggest and astir almighty rocket — launched from the confederate extremity of Texas connected a trial formation aboriginal Thursday evening. The booster made it backmost to the pad for a drawback by elephantine mechanical arms, lone the 2nd clip successful Starship history. But the engines connected the still-ascending spacecraft unopen down 1 by one, and connection was mislaid 8-1/2 minutes into the flight.

Dramatic video taken adjacent the Turks and Caicos Islands showed spacecraft debris raining down from the entity successful a watercourse of fireballs. Flights adjacent the falling debris had to beryllium diverted, the FAA said.

SpaceX said Starship remained successful its designated motorboat corridor implicit the Gulf of Mexico and past the Atlantic. Any surviving wreckage would person fallen on that way implicit water, the institution said connected its website.

Starship had been shooting for a controlled introduction implicit the Indian Ocean, halfway astir the world. Ten dummy satellites, mimicking SpaceX's Starlink net satellites, were connected committee truthful the institution could signifier releasing them.

It was the seventh trial formation of a Starship, but it featured a caller and upgraded spacecraft. The FAA said it indispensable o.k. SpaceX's mishap findings and immoderate corrective actions.

SpaceX said the booster and spacecraft for the eighth demo are already built and undergoing testing. Musk said connected X the nonaccomplishment was "barely a bump successful the road" successful his plans to physique a fleet of Starships to transportation radical to Mars.

NASA already has booked 2 Starships to onshore astronauts connected the satellite aboriginal this decennary nether its Artemis program, the successor to Apollo.

"Spaceflight is not easy. It's thing but routine," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson posted connected X aft the accident. "That's wherefore these tests are truthful important."

Earlier Thursday, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin institution besides had mixed results with the debut of its monolithic New Glenn rocket. It achieved orbit connected its archetypal try, putting a trial outer thousands of miles supra Earth. But the booster was destroyed aft failing to onshore connected a floating level successful the Atlantic.