The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered SpaceX to formally investigate Breakdown of its Starship rocket A spectacular shower of flaming debris fell back to Earth during a test flight on Thursday, the agency announced Friday.
“The FAA is requiring SpaceX to conduct an accident investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on January 16,” the FAA said in a statement. “There have been no reports of public injury, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and appropriate authorities to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos.”
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within a few minutes of starship breakupWith video posted on social media showing a shower of debris from the sudden fireball – presumably propellants igniting in the wake of the failure – the FAA activated a “debris response area” and evacuated “aircraft out of that area.” “Slowed down for some time where the spacecraft debris was falling.”
Other planes were briefly grounded at South Florida airports, the agency said, and several were “requested to be diverted due to low fuel levels, keeping them out of the affected areas.”
Meanwhile, SpaceX said preliminary data indicated that a fire broke out in the rear of Starship, destroying the vehicle.
“Starship's upper stage successfully ignited all six Raptor engines and completed its ascent burn into space,” the company said on its web page. “Prior to the completion of the burn, telemetry with the vehicle was lost after approximately eight and a half minutes of flight. Preliminary data indicate that a fire broke out in the rear of the ship, causing rapid undetermined decompression.”
“Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly,” or RUD, is a description favored by SpaceX founder Elon Musk when referring to catastrophic rocket failures. SpaceX has set up a “debris hotline” at 1-866-623-0234 and urged anyone who finds Starship debris to call or notify the company at recovery@spacex.com.
Accident happened during test flight
The accident occurred during the seventh test flight of a giant Super Heavy-Starship rocket from SpaceX's Gulf Coast Manufacturing and Flight Test Center in Boca Chica, Texas.
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The Super Heavy first stage performed a successful mission, propelling the Starship's upper stage out of the lower atmosphere, then turning around and flying back to a seaside firing stand, where it was ejected from mid-air by giant mechanical arms on the launch tower. Taken out.
Meanwhile, Starship continued moving into space on the power of its six engines. But about eight and a half minutes into liftoff, telemetry shared on SpaceX's webcast showed that the engines were slowly shutting down, before the data suddenly shut down and stopped updating.
Multiple photos and videos posted on social media show trails of smoke billowing from the fireball into the midday sky, reminiscent of the 2003 breakup of shuttle Columbia and the intentional reentry of the Russian Mir space station in 2001. And reminds of disintegration.
The accident Thursday is not expected to impact SpaceX's commercial operations. The company dominates the commercial launch industry with its partially reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets launched from Florida and California and those boosters share no common elements with Starship.
But Musk sees Super Heavy-Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, as the company's future, with both stages designed to fly to a rocket-powered landing for rapid refurbishing and relaunch. , which is a key element of the company's campaign. To reduce launch costs.
SpaceX is in the process of scaling up test flights to quickly verify performance, test new ideas, identify problem areas, and implement improvements in downstream flights.
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How the FAA-mandated investigation may impact the testing program is not yet known.
“The investigation into the accident is designed to enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the incident, and identify corrective actions to prevent it from occurring again,” the FAA said.
“The FAA will be involved in every step of the SpaceX-led accident investigation process and must approve SpaceX's final report, including any corrective actions. Return to flight is contingent upon the FAA determining whether any systems related to the accident, The process or procedure does not affect public safety.”
How long the investigation might take – and when the Super Heavy-Starship might fly again – is not yet known. But it will almost certainly increase SpaceX's testing program.
Leading into Thursday's test flight, SpaceX said 2025 “will be transformational for Starship, aiming to bring entire system reuse online and fly increasingly ambitious missions as we move humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon and Moving towards being able to send people into space. Mars.”
Flying the Super Heavy-Starship on a regular basis is vital to NASA's Artemis moon program. NASA is paying SpaceX to develop a version of the Starship upper stage to carry astronauts to the moon's surface in 2027.
To send a Starship to the Moon, SpaceX must first launch it into low-Earth orbit where other Starship “tankers” will assemble, dock, and autonomously refuel the Moon-bound ship so it can return to Earth. Could explode out of orbit and move towards deep space.
The astronauts, launched by NASA's Space Launch System rocket, will meet Starship in lunar orbit and then land on the surface.
The NASA contract requires an unpiloted lunar landing test flight before astronauts are allowed to land on the surface. The ongoing testing program will determine when this may be possible.