FAA briefly halts flights to several Florida airports after SpaceX rocket testing failure – CNBC
The incident marks the second time this year that SpaceX experienced a mishap during a flight test of Starship resulting in debris raining down and commercial flights disrupted.
Affected airports included Miami International Airport, which is an American Airlines hub, and airports serving Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando, Florida.
The regulator said, in a statement on Thursday, it is now requiring SpaceX to “perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on March 6.”
During the event, the FAA said, it “activated a Debris Response Area and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location. Normal operations have resumed.”
SpaceX said, in a post on X on Thursday night: “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 Elon Musk-led aerospace and defense contractor also said it plans to “review the data from today’s flight test to better understand” the root cause of the mishap.
Starship took off from the company’s spaceport near Brownsville, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. ET for its eighth test flight.
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