SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded shortly after liftoff from Texas on Thursday, scattering debris across the Caribbean. The incident caused widespread flight disruptions, with numerous aircraft diverting or delaying their routes. Pilots reported witnessing streaks of light in the sky, believed to be remnants of the exploding spacecraft.
Starship lifts off from its pad in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday. Minutes after launching, it exploded, spreading debris across the Caribbean.Flights across the Caribbean were hastily diverted on Thursday following the explosion of a rocket built by Elon Musk's company, Space X. The chaos was revealed in flight tracking data and audio exchanges between pilots and air traffic control, as reviewed by NPR.
In fact, the streaks were the remnants of SpaceX's experimental Starship spacecraft. Starship lifted off from its pad in Boca Chica, Texas, at 5:37 p.m. ET for its seventh flight test. The launch appeared to go smoothly until SpaceX lost contact around 5:45 p.m. ET. Within minutes, pilots near Puerto Rico reported seeing strange lights in the sky.
It was only at 5:58 p.m., roughly 13 minutes after the spacecraft reportedly exploded — that controllers in Puerto Rico declared a"space vehicle mishap" and closed the airspace around the incident. By then, ATC communications suggested that much of the debris might have already fallen into the water.
Around the same time, bystander videos taken from cruise ships and resorts across the Caribbean showed what appeared to be a large explosion in the sky, followed by a spray of brightly colored shooting stars. The debris appeared to pass directly over the Turks and Caicos, startling vacationers.
Spacex Starship Rocket Explosion Caribbean Flights Debris
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