Air traffic controllers rushed to divert planes after Elon Musk’s rocket exploded: NPR

Spaceship lifts off from its berth in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday. Minutes after launch, it exploded, scattering debris over the Caribbean.

Eric Gay/AP

hide caption

change caption

Eric Gay/AP

Flights across the Caribbean were hastily diverted Thursday after the explosion of a rocket built by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX. The chaos was revealed in flight tracking data and audio exchanges between pilots and air traffic control, as reviewed by NPR.

Sound off LiveATC.net showed confusion in the moments after the giant Starship rocket exploded.

“I just got a major streak from at least 60 miles with all these different colors,” an unidentified pilot told air traffic controllers on the ground in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “It looked like it was coming towards us… just to let you know.”

“Can you give an estimate of how far away it is?” asked the controller.

“That was Starlink,” chimed in another unidentified pilot, speculating that the streaks might have been communication satellites which are often launched by SpaceX.

In fact, the streaks were the remains of SpaceX’s experimental Starship spacecraft. Spaceship lifted off from its pad in Boca Chica, Texas at 5:37 PM ET for its seventh flight test. The launch appeared to be going smoothly until SpaceX lost contact around 5:45 p.m. ET. Within minutes, pilots near Puerto Rico reported seeing strange lights in the sky.

“I don’t know what it is, it’s red lights … I don’t know what it is,” a pilot on Silver Airways flight 127 told air traffic controllers. In response, the pilot was advised to lower his altitude and was allowed to deviate from his flight path to avoid debris. The plane landed safely in San Juan.

It wasn’t until 5:58 p.m., about 13 minutes after the spacecraft reportedly exploded — that controllers in Puerto Rico declared a “spacecraft accident” and closed the airspace around the incident. At the time, ATC communications suggested that much of the debris may have already fallen into the water.

“Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk wrote about the incident on its social media platform Xshares a video of the trash taken by a user in Turks and Caicos.

SpaceX is currently investigating the exact cause of the explosion, but telemetry data from the launch showed that several rocket engines on the Starship unexpectedly shut down as it ascended into space. IN a statement on the company’s website it was noted that “Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft part of the ship, leading to a rapid unplanned dismantling.”

While Musk envisions Starship potentially carrying humans to Mars, the test flight had no passengers on board.

Around the same time, bystander videos taken from cruise ships and resorts across the Caribbean showed what appeared to be a large explosion in the sky, followed by a spray of brightly colored shooting stars. The debris appeared to pass directly over the Turks and Caicos Islands, surprising vacationers.

Flight data from flight tracking websites FlightAware and Flightradar24 showed at least 20 flights that appeared to have been delayed or diverted by the incident. Ian Petchenik with Flightradar24 said at least 16 of those planes actually had to divert to another airport.

Videos it was submitted on the X also appears to capture views from airplanes, though they could not be immediately verified by NPR. Nevertheless, they were consistent with other footage shown of the incident.

Kathleen Bangs with FlightAware says she believes “dozens” of other flights were delayed because of the incident. Some flights had to change their flight paths, while others stayed on the ground and wait for airspace to reopen.

“There was quite a bit of disruption,” she says, adding that the disruption was not as great as those created by weather events such as blizzards or large thunderstorms.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees both SpaceX and commercial aviation, said there were no reports of injuries or damage to property.

“Several aircraft requested to divert due to low fuel levels while staying outside the affected areas,” the agency said. That would require SpaceX to conduct an accident investigation.