CNN US regulators and government officials in Turks and Caicos are looking into reports of property damage in the island nation caused by debris falling after a SpaceX Starship vehicle exploded over the ocean during a test mission Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Flights of the spacecraft and rocket system are now grounded pending an investigation into the mishap, the agency confirmed in a Friday statement. The FAA and Turks and Caicos officials both said Friday there were no reported injuries.Authorities routinely halt flights of rockets to carry out what is referred to as a “mishap investigation” when launches and flights do not go according to plan.
SpaceX will lead the investigation, as the company confirmed yesterday. The FAA will then issue a list of corrective actions the company needs to take in order to get Starship back on the launchpad for another test flight.
The SpaceX vehicle disintegrated partway through the seventh uncrewed test flight of the rocket system — about 10 minutes into a mission that launched out of South Texas.
A shower of debris prompted the FAA to briefly create a “Debris Response Area” that forced planes to reroute, causing a string of travel delays.
In an advisory issued Friday, the Turks and Caicos National Security Secretariat also said the “Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority diverted all flights in (Turks and Caicos Islands) airspace as well as grounded all flights until an all clear had been given.”
The FAA implements a “Debris Response Area” only when debris from a rocket mishap falls outside of predefined hazard areas that are closed to aircraft, according to the agency. However, SpaceX asserted in a Thursday statement that “surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” (Initially, the statement described debris as falling “into the Atlantic Ocean” — but the language was amended by Friday afternoon to remove that phrase.)
When asked to clarify what constituted a “hazard area” and which locations were closed to air traffic during launch, the FAA said that its “investigation is ongoing” and “information is preliminary and subject to change.” The agency added that the amount of airspace closed for rocket launches can vary from launch to launch depending on a variety of factors, including the safety record of the launch vehicle.
After Starship exploded Thursday, photos and videos flooded social media, showing debris that glowed bright orange and white as it streaked across the sky. Much of the footage was captured from Turks and Caicos or cruise ships and other islands in the surrounding area. Source
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