SpaceX loses contact with Starship 8, spacecraft blows up, viral videos show explosion and stunning fireball shower

SpaceX launched its mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down. The incident happened nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos. This was Starship’s eighth flight test.

Several videos showed wreckage from the explosion streaming from the skies over Florida. It was not immediately known whether the spacecraft’s self-destruct system had kicked in to blow it up, the Associated Press reported.

Another wrote, “Jesus Christ #starship flight 8 over here in the Dominican Republic #spacex.”

What happened to Starship?

The 403-foot (123-metre) rocket blasted off from Texas a little before sunset.

SpaceX caught the first-stage booster back at the pad with giant mechanical arms, but engines on the spacecraft on top started shutting down as it streaked eastward for what was supposed to be a controlled entry over the Indian Ocean, half a world away.

Contact was lost with the spacecraft as it went into an out-of-control spin.

The space-skimming flight was supposed to last an hour and couldn’t release the mock satellites into space as planned.

The spacecraft reached nearly 90 miles (150 kilometres) in altitude before it got into trouble. It was not immediately clear where it came down.

“Unfortunately this happened last time too, so we have some practice at this now,” SpaceX flight commentator Dan Huot said from the launch site.

What did SpaceX say?

SpaceX released a statement saying that during Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost.

“Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses,” Elon Musk’s company said.

“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,” it added.

Viral videos

Viral videos on social media platform X showed starship blowing up in the air and its debris raining down like a fireball shower. One user who shared the video captioned it as, “Footage of SpaceX’s Starship breaking up on reentry over the Bahamas and West Indies.”

Another wrote, “Incredible sight here in Bahamas.” Another user claimed that his friend shot the Starship explosion from Miami.

NASA to use Starship?

SpaceX, founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, aims to revolutionise space technology, with Starship Flight 8 being part of ongoing tests to enhance reliability for future missions, including potential Mars exploration.

NASA has booked Starship to land its astronauts on the moon later this decade. SpaceX’s Elon Musk is aiming for Mars with Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket.

Like last time, Starship had four mock satellites to release once the craft reached space on this eighth test flight as a practice for future missions.

They resembled SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites, thousands of which currently orbit Earth, and were meant to fall back down following their brief taste of space.

Starship’s flaps, computers and fuel system were redesigned in preparation for the next big step: returning the spacecraft to the launch site just like the booster.

During the last demo, SpaceX captured the booster at the launch pad, but the spacecraft blew up several minutes later over the Atlantic. No injuries or major damage were reported.

According to an investigation that remains ongoing, leaking fuel triggered a series of fires that shut down the spacecraft’s engines. The on-board self-destruct system kicked in as planned.

SpaceX said it made several improvements to the spacecraft following the accident, and the Federal Aviation Administration recently cleared Starship once more for launch.

Starships soar out of the southernmost tip of Texas near the Mexican border. SpaceX is building another Starship complex at Cape Canaveral, Florida, home to the company’s smaller Falcon rockets that ferry astronauts and satellites to orbit.