The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded SpaceX‘s Starship and ordered an investigation into the spacecraft’s disintegration during its latest test mission on Thursday. The incident occurred over the Caribbean, causing a fiery cascade of debris.
Authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands diverted all flights from their airspace and warned residents not to touch fallen debris due to potential hazards.
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The federal agency in a statement said, “The FAA is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on Jan. 16.”
SpaceX will need to identify any corrective actions, which the FAA will review before determining if the launch vehicle can return to flight. Alternatively, the company may seek an early return to flight by demonstrating sufficient safety measures and confirming the mishap posed no public risk.
The government of the Turks and Caicos Islands met with UK Space Agency experts and reiterated warnings to residents to avoid fallen debris. They advised residents to take photographs of the objects without touching them, emphasizing that “Space debris remains the property of the spacecraft owner.”
Despite the explosion, SpaceX caught Starship’s first stage booster in the “chopstick” arms of its launch tower for the second time. Musk suggested that the cause of the explosion appeared to be an “oxygen/fuel leak” that caused an excess buildup of pressure. He added, “Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”
Starship is key to Musk’s Mars mission ambitions. Nasa hopes to use a modified version of the rocket as a human lunar lander for its Artemis missions to return to the Moon. This uncrewed launch marked Starship’s seventh orbital test and first with an upgraded, taller rocket version.
