SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites but no crew, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m. EST (2238 GMT).
The last time a Starship upper stage failed was in March last year, as it was reentering Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, but rarely has a SpaceX mishap caused widespread disruptions to air traffic.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates private launch activities, said it had briefly slowed and diverted planes around the area where space debris was falling, but normal operations had since resumed.
SpaceX CEO Musk posted a video on X showing the debris field and said: “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
The Starship upper stage, 2 meters (6.56 feet) taller than previous versions, was a “new generation ship with significant upgrades,“ SpaceX said in a mission description prior to the test. It was due to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean roughly an hour after its launch from Texas.
SpaceX's test-to-failure development approach has in the past included spectacular failures as the company pushes Starship prototypes to their engineering limits. Thursday's test failure, though, occurred in a mission phase that SpaceX has flown through previously.
The towering Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, returned to its launchpad roughly seven minutes after liftoff, as planned, slowing its descent from space by reigniting its Raptor engines as it hooked itself on giant mechanical arms fixed to a launch tower. (Reporting by Joey Roulette; Additional reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Sandra Maler and Jamie
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