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Liftoff of Starship test 7 on Jan. 16. Screenshot via SpaceX

SpaceX’s dramatic Starship test on Thursday afternoon has triggered a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mishap investigation after debris from the test impacted air travel and may have damaged public property in Turks and Caicos. 

SpaceX launched the seventh flight test for its massive Starship rocket on Jan. 16, testing extensive upgrades to the vehicle for the first time. After a successful liftoff, stage separation, and recapturing the booster on land, SpaceX lost communication with the ship, which broke apart over the Caribbean. 

Reports on social media from people in Turks and Caicos showed flaming debris from the explosion in the sky. 

The FAA issued a statement on Jan. 17 that it activated a “debris response area” during the event. According to the FAA, these are activated “only if the space vehicle experiences an anomaly with debris falling outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas.”

The FAA said it “briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location. Several aircraft requested to divert due to low fuel levels while holding outside impacted areas.”

The FAA is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the ship. As of Friday afternoon, the FAA said there are no reports of public injury and work is underway to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos. 

SpaceX said in a statement that it lost telemetry with the ship about eight and a half minutes into the flight, and believes a fire developed in the aft section of the ship which led to the breakup. 

SpaceX also claims that Starship flew within its specified launch area. “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor – as all U.S. launches do to safeguard the public both on the ground, on water and in the air. Any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area,” the statement said. 

Starship will be grounded until the FAA approves SpaceX’s mishap investigation report, and any corrective actions.

This is not the first time a Starship test has triggered a mishap investigation. The investigation into the first flight test in April of 2023, for example, ended with 63 corrective actions, including redesigning the launch pad

But the seventh test is a setback for Starship, which has contracts to deliver humans to the Moon for NASA. The rocket’s development had a series of successful tests in 2024, hitting new milestones like reaching a suborbital trajectory for the first time, and the eye-catching milestone of catching the Super Heavy booster

This Starship was billed as the next generation of the vehicle and was supposed to attempt the first payload deployment of 10 Starlink satellites. The new ship was 2 meters taller, which SpaceX said this enabled the ship to include 25% more propellant and a series of propulsion upgrades, including a new feed line system for the Raptor vacuum engine. 

The test “served as a reminder that development testing, by definition, can be unpredictable,” SpaceX said in a statement, adding “We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.” 

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