FAA temporarily halts launch of Musk’s spaceship after explosion

The urgent radio calls from air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration office in Puerto Rico began going out Thursday night as a SpaceX test flight exploded and debris began raining toward the Caribbean.

Flights near Puerto Rico were necessary to avoid passing through the area — or risk being hit by falling chunks of Starship, the newest and largest of Elon Musk’s rockets.

“Spacecraft accident,” an air traffic controller said over the FAA radio systemas onlookers on islands below and even in some planes flying nearby saw bright streaks of light as parts of the spacecraft tumbled toward the sea.

Added another air traffic controller: “We have reports of debris outside the protected areas, so we will have to keep you in this airspace at the moment.”

The mishap — the Starship spacecraft blew up while still climbing into space — led the FAA on Friday to suspend any further lifts of SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.

The incident raises new questions about both the safety of the rapidly increasing number of commercial space launches, or at least the air traffic disruption they cause.

It’s also the latest incident to highlight the conflicts that Elon Musk’s new role in the Trump administration will bring. He will be mandated to recommend changes and potentially budget cuts to government agencies, including the FAA. That tension could hamper studies like the one announced Friday.

Mr. Musk, who is preparing to travel to Washington to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration, itself as of Thursday night, expressed confidence that SpaceX would quickly resolve questions about the explosion and restart test flights.

“Nothing so far suggests pushing the next launch past next month,” Mr. Musk wrote on his social media, X.

Mr. Musk also poked fun at the spectacle the explosion created as debris fell toward the Turks and Caicos Islands. “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” on top of a video of the burning debris falling to the ground.

The explosion happened after the Starship’s second stage — which is intended to carry cargo or even astronauts on its way to the moon during future missions — separated from the lower Super Heavy booster and flew at about 13,250 miles per hour, 90 miles above Earth.

The starship had already fired its own rockets to complete the trip into orbit, according to SpaceX ship tracking informationsuggesting that at the time it blew into the air it weighed somewhat more than 100 tons, which is the approximate mass of the starship without fuel.

SpaceX and FAA officials on Friday did not respond to questions asked in writing and in interviews by The New York Times about whether the explosion and falling debris might have represented a threat to any aircraft or people on the ground. It is unclear how much of the spacecraft may have burned up when it fell.

The agency said there were no reports of injuries, but is investigating reports of damage to property in Turks and Caicos. It also said several planes that were told to stay in an area away from the falling debris ended up having to divert and return to other airports due to low fuel.

SpaceX said in a statement about this seventh Starship test flight that early data indicated that a fire had started in the rear of the spacecraft, resulting in the explosion and the landing of debris in an area that SpaceX and the FAA already had identified as exposed to such hazards.

Closer to the southern Texas launch site, at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico, all flights were already prohibited at the time of the launch. The spacecraft was about 10 times the height of commercial flights when it exploded, meaning there should have been time to warn aircraft in the area to steer clear before any remaining debris approached.

SpaceX will be in charge of the accident investigation, but it will be overseen by the FAA, which could allow it to resume test flights even before the investigation is complete if SpaceX can demonstrate that the accident did not create a safety risk.

Mr. Musk has previous expressed frustration how long it takes the agency to approve Starship launch licenses. Now he will be a prominent member of the Trump administration through his seat as co-chair of an advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency, with the power to evaluate federal spending and regulations.

“What this new administration can do is push this review to its conclusion faster,” said Todd Harrison, a former aerospace industry executive at the America Enterprise Institute.

He added that he expected some at the FAA might make new demands on SpaceX regarding when future Starship test flights are launched, or broader restrictions on flights along more of the flight path.

Tim Farrar, a satellite industry consultant, said the incident showed the complications the U.S. will face as it ramps up space launches, both for the Pentagon as it builds space warfare capabilities and large commercial companies like SpaceX and Amazon that are building constellations of thousands of satellites to create global broadband internet access from orbit.

“How much can you realistically increase the pace of these launches?” said Mr. Farrar.

There were 145 launches that reached orbit last year from the United States, compared to just 21 five years ago. An extraordinary one 133 of them orbital launches were by SpaceX, which is now the world’s dominant aerospace company, according to data collected by Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who tracks launches globally.

Most of those SpaceX launches were of the Falcon 9 rocket, which deploys Starlink communications satellites and Pentagon payloads, and were not affected by Friday’s FAA order.

Blue Origin, the launch company created by Jeff Bezos, had its own rocket test on Thursday, reaching orbit for the first time with its spacecraft called New Glenn. But it was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 02.03, partly because there were fewer planes in the air then.

The increase in launch rates, even before Thursday, has generated complaints from airlines, including Qantas, the Australian-based carrier, which told reporters this month it had had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney at the last minute due to debris from SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.

“While we try to make changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches has moved around at late notice, which has meant we have had to delay some flights just before departure,” the Qantas executive said in a declaration.

Hannah Walden, a spokeswoman for Airlines for America, said the commercial airlines are following this issue closely.

“Safety is the top priority for American airlines, and we are committed to ensuring the safety of all flights amid the growing number of space launches,” she said in a statement. “We continuously collaborate and coordinate with the federal government and commercial space stakeholders to ensure that U.S. airspace remains safe for all users.”

Bill Nelson, the Biden-era National Aeronautics and Space Administration director, praised the test flight. The space agency has contracts worth more than $4 billion with SpaceX twice use Starship to land astronauts on the moon.

“Space flight is not easy,” he wrote on Thursday evening on Mr. Musk’s X platform. “It is anything but routine. That’s why these tests are so important – each one brings us closer to our path to the Moon and on to Mars.”

Mark Walker contributed with reporting.