Super Heavy booster successfully returns to launchpad
PUBLISHED : 17 Jan 2025 at 21: 52
The SpaceX Starship rocket is seen after its launch from South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas on Jan 16. SpaceX mission control lost contact with the Starship eight minutes after liftoff. (Photo: Reuters)
A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back billionaire Elon Musk’s flagship rocket programme.
SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 4.38pm local time on Thursday.
Video shot by Reuters showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind.
“We did lose all communications with the ship — that is essentially telling us we had an anomaly with the upper stage,” SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said, confirming minutes later that the ship was lost.
The last time a Starship upper stage failed was in March last year, as it was reentering Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, but rarely has a SpaceX mishap caused widespread disruptions to air traffic.
Dozens of commercial flights diverted to other airports or altered course to avoid potential debris, according to the flight tracking website FlightRadar24. Departures from airports in
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