FAA suspends Musk’s Starship launch after explosion

Air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration’s office in Puerto Rico began fielding calls Thursday evening after a SpaceX test flight exploded and debris began pouring toward the Caribbean.

The flight near Puerto Rico needed to avoid passing through the area — or risk being hit by the collapse of Starship, Elon Musk’s newest and largest rocket.

“It’s an accident in the air,” air traffic controllers said on the FAA radio, as onlookers on the lower island and even in some planes flying nearby even saw a bright light as part of the spaceship tumbled into the sea.

A second air traffic controller added: “We have reports of debris outside the protected area so we have to keep you in this airspace.”

The accident – the Starship spacecraft exploded as it ascended into space – led the FAA on Friday to suspend all further landings of SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. that.

The increase in the number of commercial airspaces, or at least the resulting air traffic disruptions, raises new questions about security.

It is also the latest incident to highlight the controversy that Elon Musk’s new role in the Trump administration is bringing. He would have the authority to recommend changes, and possibly cut budgets, to government agencies including the FAA.

Mr. Musk, who is preparing to travel to Washington to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration, expressed confidence even Thursday night that SpaceX would quickly resolve questions about the explosion and resume test flights.

“There is nothing to push the next launch next month,” Mr Musk wrote on his social media site, X.

Mr. Musk in the aftermath of the explosion, as debris fell toward the Turks and Caicos Islands. “Success is not guaranteed, but fun is!” he wrote over a video of burning debris falling to the ground.

The explosion occurred after the Starship’s second stage — intended to carry cargo or astronauts on its way to the moon during future missions — separated from the lower Super Heavy booster, and flew away at 13,250 miles per hour, 90 miles above sea level. Land.

The Starship has already launched its own rocket to complete the journey to orbit, according to SpaceX’s ship control, suggesting that at the time of its explosion, it weighed more than 100 tons. i.e. the weight of the Starship without fuel.

SpaceX and FAA officials on Friday did not respond to written and interview questions from The New York Times about whether there was a threat to the plane or the people on the ground from explosions and falling debris. It is not clear how much of the spaceship may have burned up in the crash.

The agency did say there were no reports of injuries but is investigating property damage in Turks and Caicos. It was also reported that several planes that were ordered to catch the debris in remote areas ended up having to divert and return to other airports due to lack of fuel.

SpaceX, in a statement about this seventh Starship test flight, said that initial data suggested that a fire started in the rear part of the spacecraft, which ended in explosion and debris landing in an area that SpaceX and the FAA already know about. be responsible for such accidents.

Closer to the South Texas launch site, on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, all flights were banned at the time of the launch. The Starship was 10 times the height of a commercial flight at the time of the explosion, meaning that all aircraft in the area should have been warned to evacuate before the remaining debris approached.

SpaceX will be in charge of the accident investigation, but the FAA will oversee it, which allows it to continue the test flight even before the investigation is complete, if SpaceX can document that it did not cause an accident. of disaster protection.

mr. Musk previously expressed frustration about how long it took the agency to approve Starship launch permits. Now he will be a prominent member of the Trump administration, as the co-chairman of an advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency, with the power to assess the costs and federal regulations.

“What this new administration will do is push this review to a faster conclusion,” said Todd Harrison, a former space industry executive at the America Enterprise Institute.

He added that some at the FAA expected that they might want to impose new demands on SpaceX related to the timing of future Starship test flights, or broader restrictions on flights along the flight path.

Tim Farrar, a consultant to the satellite industry, said the incident showed the difficulties the United States will face in increasing space missions, or for the Pentagon as it builds a space combat force. , and large commercial companies such as SpaceX and Amazon. build constellations with thousands of satellites to create broadband Internet access from orbit.

“How much can you realistically increase the tempo of these deliveries?” Mr. Farrar said.

There were 145 launches that reached orbit last year from the United States, compared to 21 five years ago. A remarkable 133 of those orbital launches were made by SpaceX, which is now the world’s largest company, according to data collected by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who tracks launches worldwide.

Most of those SpaceX launches are from Falcon 9 rockets, which use Starlink communications satellites and Pentagon payloads and were not affected by the FAA’s order on Friday.

Blue Origin, the startup founded by Jeff Bezos, had its own rocket test on Thursday, reaching orbit for the first time with a spacecraft called New Glenn. But it took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 2:03 a.m., in part because there were fewer planes in the air then.

The increase in the number of departures, even before Thursday, has prompted complaints from airlines, including Qantas, the Australian carrier, which told reporters this month but several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney had to be delayed at the last minute because of the debris. from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

“Although we are trying to change our schedule in advance, the departure time has recently moved which means we have had to delay the flight before departure,” said a Qantas executive.

Hannah Walden, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, said commercial airlines are closely monitoring the issue.

“Safety is a top priority for US airlines, and we are committed to ensuring the safety of all flights as we continue to grow in space,” he said in a statement. “We continue to work collaboratively and collaboratively with the federal government and commercial stakeholders to ensure the safety of America’s airspace for all users.”

Bill Nelson, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the Biden era, praised the test flight. The space agency has a more than $4 billion contract with SpaceX to double-use Starship to send astronauts to the moon.

“Space flight is not easy,” he wrote Thursday night on Mr. X’s platform. Musk. “This is nothing but routine. That’s why these tests are so important — each one brings us closer to our path to the Moon and to Mars.

Mark Walker contributed to the report.