Documents released by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that the sudden explosion of a SpaceX rocket put hundreds of people in danger.
The incident occurred in January of this year, when Elon Musk’s company launched the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket. The rocket exploded less than 10 minutes after launch, causing debris to fall across the skies of the Caribbean.
In documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the FAA said that two commercial flights and a private jet carrying a total of about 450 passengers faced dangerous conditions in the air for roughly an hour as a result of the explosion.
The crew of one of the aircraft, a JetBlue commercial flight heading to San Juan, was warned that the journey could only be carried out “at their own risk,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, an Iberia Airlines aircraft and a private jet had to be instructed by an air traffic controller to change course after flying dangerously close to each other following the explosion.
The aircraft were forced to move away from a sudden no-fly zone while “air traffic controllers struggled to get the planes to safety,” according to the report.
One pilot managed to make an emergency landing in San Juan after repeating “mayday” to an air traffic controller three times, according to the documents. Fortunately, all three aircraft landed safely with no damage or injuries to passengers or crew.
SpaceX reportedly did not immediately notify air traffic control after the explosion via the official hotline, according to the FAA.
The agency found that air traffic controllers in Miami only learned about the debris from the explosion after being alerted by other pilots who were forced to fly through it.
In January, SpaceX confirmed the launch failure. “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue reviewing data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause,” the company said in a statement at the time.
Photo: X @spacex. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
