TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — SpaceX lost contact with its Starship during its eighth test flight Thursday.
The test flight was originally set for Monday, but it was delayed due to last-minute problems.
“During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost,” SpaceX wrote on social media. “Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses. We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.”
After the launch’s failure, the Federal Aviation Administration announced ground stops for Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, and Palm Beach International Airport due to space debrris. The advisory lasted until 8 p.m. EDT and resulted in a brief departure delay.
Orlando International Airport also announced that it was under a brief ground stop, but it was lifted by 7:43 p.m.
Tampa International Airport was not impacted by the delay, but it did say two flights to Miami International Airport were diverted to Tampa. A flight that left TPA for San Juan, Puerto Rico, also had to return to Tampa.
The test flight came after the seventh attempt caused the Starship to come apart during the test, going down over the Caribbean.
The eight test followed the same trajectory as the previous flight to target the previous objectives the seventh attempt failed to achieve.
Several upgrades were made to make the Starship more reliable, but it ended up failing again.
Tampa Bay residents in Madeira Beach and Tampa reported seeing the explosion in the sky.
