SpaceX launched its seventh test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, but the spacecraft was destroyed after a booster snagged on the pad.
Elon Musk's company said Starship broke down, calling it an “unscheduled rapid disassembly.” The rocket appeared to take off from SpaceX's launch pad at its Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, but eight and a half minutes into the mission, ground control announced that it had lost all communication with the ship.
Flights near the Turks and Caicos Islands were seen diverting to avoid debris from Thursday's explosion and images were shared of debris falling from the sky in the area.
Musk shared a video. of falling debris, writing: “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
The Federal Aviation Administration announced a brief slowdown of flights in and around the Florida area due to possible falling debris from the launch.
The spacecraft was supposed to fly across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas in a close circuit around the world, similar to previous tests. SpaceX packaged the new and improved model with 10 dummy satellites to practice releasing them.
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One minute before the loss, SpaceX used the launch tower's giant mechanical arms to catch the returning booster, a feat that had only been accomplished once before. The descending super-heavy first-stage booster hovered over the launch pad before being grabbed by the pair of robotic arms, called chopsticks.
There were no astronauts on board the test flight mission and the latest data received from the spacecraft indicated an altitude of 146 kilometers and a speed of 13,245 km/h.
“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship's engine firewall that was large enough to generate pressure in excess of wind capacity,” Musk wrote in X a few hours after launch from Flight 7. “Aside from obviously rechecking for leaks, we'll add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase the ventilation area. So far, nothing suggests delaying the next launch beyond next month.”
It was the seventh test flight of the world's largest and most powerful rocket. The mission marked the second time SpaceX was able to return and catch the booster from the stage using the launch tower.
NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to take astronauts to the moon later this decade, while Musk's ultimate goal is Mars.
It also plans to launch real Starlinks on Starships before moving on to other satellites and, eventually, crews.
—With files from The Associated Press
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