FAA demanding investigation after SpaceX Starship breaks up in flight
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is asking SpaceX for an investigation into this week's Starship test flight that ended up spinning out of control and breaking apart.
The FAA said the Starship's vehicle and booster debris landed within the designated hazard areas and there were no reports of injuries or damage to public property during Tuesday's flight.
'The mishap investigation is focused only on the loss of the Starship vehicle which did not complete its launch or reentry as planned. The FAA determined that the loss of the Super Heavy booster is covered by one of the approved test induced damage exceptions requested by SpaceX for certain flight events and system components,' the FAA wrote in a statement on Friday.
The Starship, the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, recorded its third test flight of this year and ninth since testing began in April of 2023. It took off from Starbase, Texas and the first few minutes appear to go as planned. Around half-an-hour into the mission, the Starship began to spin out of control and SpaceX lost contact with the booster prior to it hitting the water.
'As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test,' SpaceX said Tuesday.
'Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase,' SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday night on X, the social media platform he bought in 2022.
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