ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 9) – SpaceX’s Starship exploded during a test flight Thursday in Florida.
Video captures SpaceX Starship exploding over Florida
What we know:
SpaceX’s Starship exploded during its eighth flight test Thursday.
A video captured by Trevor Mahlmann in Titusville, Florida, shows the Starship exploding into a technicolor cloud.
What they’re saying:
“I was at dinner with my family on the space coast of Florida when, while watching the SpaceX Starship flight 8 webcast, I went outside to look to the southwest to see if it would be possible to see the launch from Texas arcing over,” Mahlmann told Storyful.
How the SpaceX Starship exploded
The backstory:
SpaceX’s test flight of the Starship rocket failed after the spacecraft lost several engines and ultimately lost control during ascent.
The launch took place around 6:30 p.m. ET and initially succeeded in separating Starship from the Super Heavy booster. But eight minutes into the flight, the rocket began losing altitude control.
SpaceX engineers then lost contact with the vehicle before the ascent phase was complete.
In a post to X, SpaceX said “the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
The Federal Aviation Administration is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation after the incident.
Ground stops were ordered at multiple Florida airports due to the explosion.
READ MORE: SpaceX Starship test ends in explosion off Florida’s coast, FAA orders ‘mishap investigation’
The Source: A licensed video from Storyful and reporting from FOX 35 in Orlando.
