Elon Musk’s Starship prototype breaks up in space and disrupts air traffic
16 January 2025 11:41pm GMT
Elon Musk’s Starship prototype unexpectedly failed in space, just hours after Jeff Bezos tested his rival rocket.
Mr Musk’s SpaceX carried out a launch of the superheavy rocket from Boca Chica in Texas on Thursday night with the aim of undertaking a series of stress tests to push its launch vehicle to its limit.
However, in an unexpected setback, SpaceX lost the upper portion of the Starship rocket.
About eight minutes into the mission, SpaceX lost communication with Starship, with launch commentators eventually saying that the vehicle had been lost.
SpaceX’s mishap caused widespread disruptions to air traffic.
At Miami International Airport, some flights were grounded. At least 20 commercial flights diverted to other airports or altered course to avoid potential debris, based on flight records from tracking website FlightRadar24.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates private launch activities in the US, said it was assessing the situation.
The mission comes just hours after Jeff Bezos celebrated the launch of New Glenn, a rocket built by his company Blue Origin. New Glenn reached orbit for the first time.
The two entrepreneurs have been locked in a race to extend human civilisation beyond planet Earth, with Mr Musk claiming he wants to make life “multiplanetary” and Mr Bezos stating the aim of colonising space with “millions” of people.
The SpaceX mission debuted a series of changes to Starship’s design in an attempt to deliver a dummy payload of satellites into space for the first time. The company has tweaked various flaps and tiles on the craft to test its resilience.