US grounds Starship flights
January 20, 2025
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not happy with last week’s problem with Elon Musk’s Starship rocket which exploded over the Turks & Caicos Islands. The FAA has grounded future flights pending a detailed explanation and examination of the flight’s data.
There are numerous reports and images of pieces of the rocket, especially its heat-resistant elements on beaches and fields on the islands and well outside the designated hazard area for possible debris falling. There are no reports of injuries but the FAA has talked of possible property damage from the seventh test flight of the Starship’s combination of booster and upper stage.
The FAA’s official ruling is that SpaceX must carry out and report on the ‘mishap’ and will then examine the results before authorising any further flights of the giant rocket. The launch saw the powerful booster return to Earth and captured by the ‘chopsticks’ on the launch platform.
The core detail is that the launch initially went well and about four minutes into the mission the upper stage separated from the booster and almost immediately thereafter all communication with the upper stage was lost. SpaceX must complete its investigation and put in place any required corrective actions before the FAA issues the company with a new licence to launch Starship again.
In a post on his social media platform X, Musk said “preliminary indications” were that the problem was linked to an “oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall”. Musk added that “nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”
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