The latest test of SpaceX's Starship 7 rocket broke apart minutes after launching from Texas, with debris falling back to Earth over the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
Communication was lost 8 1/2 minutes into the Thursday uncrewed flight. "We did lose all communications with the ship-that is essentially telling us we had an anomaly with the upper stage," said SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot, who confirmed minutes later that the ship was lost.
"Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on X.
Huot later said the explosion appeared to result from an "oxygen/fuel leak," adding that the company would take corrective steps. The company reported that the spacecraft's engines appeared to shut down one by one.
"Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today's flight test to better understand root cause," the company said on X.
It added: "With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will help us improve Starship's reliability."
- SUCCESS FOR COMPETITOR BLUE ORIGIN
The spacecraft was intended to fly over the Gulf of Mexico from Texas in an almost global loop, similar to earlier test flights. It carried 10 dummy satellites to practice deployment, marking the first flight of the upgraded vessel.
Despite the spacecraft's failure, the Super Heavy Booster, the first stage of SpaceX's reusable Starship rocket, built to provide powerful thrust, successfully returned to its launchpad as planned, causing ground control teams to cheer with excitement.
The US Federal Aviation Administration reported that flights at Florida's Miami and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airports were delayed by up to an hour due to a "rocket launch anomaly."
Before SpaceX's launch, Blue Origin's massive New Glenn rocket achieved its first orbital flight early Thursday, a significant milestone in the commercial space race and a win for Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin's owner.
While SpaceX has long dominated orbital launches with its Falcon 9 rocket, securing contracts from US space agency NASA, the Pentagon, and private companies, Blue Origin had previously been limited to suborbital flights with its smaller New Shepard rocket.
Musk congratulated Bezos on the successful orbital debut. Bezos returned the gesture a few hours later, writing on X: "Good luck today @elonmusk and the whole SpaceX team!!"
