A SpaceX launch test went awry on Thursday when the company’s Starship dramatically exploded on the craft’s eighth test flight.
“Space launch debris” led the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt flights at four of Florida’s busiest airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando on Thursday. The FAA announced that it was “requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation” in a Thursday night statement. The agency, a target of SpaceX owner Elon Musk’s federal government-slashing DOGE, will keep SpaceX Starship flights grounded until the investigation wraps.
It was the second failure in a row for the company, following a Starship explosion in January during the probe’s seventh test flight.
SpaceX acknowledged the failed launch in a post to X.
“During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses,” the company wrote. “We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.”
Musk, who posts to his social media platform X nearly 100 times per day, has remained silent on the failed launch.