Dozens of planes reroute to avoid 'Musk setback'
A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded in space minutes after launch from Texas on Thursday, forcing flights over the Gulf of Mexico to divert to avoid falling debris in a setback for Elon Musk's flagship rocket program. The Starship rocket, which had recently undergone upgrades, was testing the launch of its first payload of prototype satellites without a crew.SpaceX controllers lost contact with it eight minutes after liftoff from the company's rocket facility in South Texas. Reuters footage showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky above Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, leaving a trail of smoke.
The last time a Starship upper stage malfunctioned was in March last year while re-entering Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, but a SpaceX accident rarely causes widespread disruption to air traffic. Dozens of commercial flights have been diverted to other airports or changed their course to avoid potential debris, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Flights departing from airports in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were delayed by about 45 minutes, he said. SpaceX CEO Musk posted a video on the X platform showing the wreckage, with the caption: “Success uncertain, but fun guaranteed.” SpaceX said before the test that the Starship upper stage, which is 6 feet (2 meters) taller than previous models, is a “new generation vehicle with significant upgrades.”
The spacecraft was scheduled to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour after launching from Texas. Musk said initial assessments of the test failure showed an internal leak of liquid oxygen fuel, which led to a pressure buildup and the rocket explosion.
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