SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket launches for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on January 16, 2025.
Eric Gay | P.A.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that SpaceX’s Starship rocket will be grounded until the company and regulator complete an investigation into the mid-flight failure of the most recent test flight, which forced airlines to divert their flights.
The regulator noted in a statement that while there have been “no reports of public harm,” it has received “reports of damage to public property on the Turks and Caicos Islands” in the Caribbean. .
SpaceX must complete the investigation and implement any required corrective measures before the FAA issues the company a new license to relaunch Starship.
The FAA has diverted and delayed dozens of commercial airline flights – including several operated by American airlines, JetBlue Airways And Delta Airlines — after the Starship rocket exploded and rained debris minutes after launch Thursday.
SpaceX said in a statement that it believed a fire in the vehicle led to the destruction of the spacecraft. Videos posted on social media by area residents showed the rocket exploding in space.
Orange balls of light fly across the sky as debris from a SpaceX rocket launched in Texas is spotted over the Turks and Caicos Islands on January 16, 2025.
Marcus Haworth@marcusahaworth | Marcus Haworth via Reuters
The FAA claims in particular to have activated a “debris response zone” to warn planes of falling debris “outside the closed danger zones identified for aircraft”.
Before rocket launches, the FAA publishes “Aircraft Danger Zones” that tell pilots where debris can fall if something goes wrong during the launch.
A map of “aeronautical risk zones” published before the seventh flight of SpaceX’s Starship.
Federal Aviation Administration
SpaceX initially posted a statement on its website Thursday that debris from the spacecraft fell “into the Atlantic Ocean within predefined danger zones,” apparently contradicting the FAA’s explanation of why a “zone Debris Response” has been activated.
As of Friday morning, SpaceX’s latest statement did not include this specific language. The company’s website stated more generally that “any surviving debris would have fallen into the designated danger zone” following the outage.
The FAA, in response to CNBC’s request for clarification on whether debris from the spacecraft landed outside the predefined danger zone, reiterated that its “information is preliminary and subject to change.” SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
