SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight ends with another explosion
The booster of SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is recaptured during a test flight from Starbase in Texas on March 6, 2025. Imahge via AP.

SpaceX Starship
The FAA briefly halted planes landing in Florida as a result of the explosion Thursday.

Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down and broke apart.

This time, wreckage from the latest explosion was seen streaming from the skies over Florida. It was not immediately known whether the spacecraft’s self-destruct system had kicked in to blow it up.

The 403-foot rocket blasted off from Texas. SpaceX caught the first-stage booster back at the pad with giant mechanical arms, but engines on the spacecraft on top started shutting down as it streaked eastward for what was supposed to be a controlled entry over the Indian Ocean, half a world away. Contact was lost as the spacecraft went into an out-of-control spin.

Starship reached nearly 90 miles in altitude before trouble struck and before four mock satellites could be deployed. It was not immediately clear where it came down, but images of flaming debris were captured from Florida, including near Cape Canaveral, and posted online.

Associated Press


2 comments

  • Dr. Ain Tno-Moh

    March 7, 2025 at 7:50 am

    Sounds like an old movie about American missiles being toppled over the Caribbean by a mad Chinese scientist. Eerily like it, as a matter of fact.

  • PeterH

    March 7, 2025 at 9:50 am

    Let’s imperil America’s air traffic control system with Musk’s stellar technology and rely on its performance to keep our skies safe.

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