Posted on 03/07/2025 4:50:47 AM PST by MtnClimber
Debris from a failed SpaceX rocket streaked across the South Florida sky Thursday evening, creating a display that left residents wondering whether they were witnessing a meteor shower or an explosion.
The spectacle came after SpaceX's Starship rocket, which launched from Texas, suffered a failure during ascent, sending fragments into the atmosphere.
Videos flooded social media, showing bright orbs in the sky before an apparent explosion scattered debris, resembling a cluster of shooting stars.
SpaceX confirms failure
In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, SpaceX acknowledged the malfunction, saying, "During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses."
The company did not provide further details on what caused the failure or whether any debris reached the ground.
Flights temporarily grounded
In South Florida, the fallout from the failed launch extended beyond the sky.
Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport briefly grounded flights due to the incident, though normal operations resumed later in the evening.
Residents from across South Florida reported witnessing the event, with many mistaking it for a plane crash or a celestial phenomenon.
Probably as long as the instructions regarding how to leave a voice message stays around.
Rocket engines are persnickety cusses.
Once they started flying Saturn F-1 engines, they never failed. They had a 100% success rate. (They sure blew up stuff before that time.)
I am getting sick of it also. Really, just call it X at this point. We know what you are talking about.
Thank you!
So did NASA.
It’s tough testing new tech.
Just find 1000 ways not to make a light bulb. LOL
Real good.
Boeing has lots of problems, but Starliner came back unoccupied but OK.
The issue was that Boeing could not prove - to the satisfaction of NASA, and after extensive testing - that the thruster clusters would not overheat like they did when approaching the ISS.
Had that happened, then yes, the astronaut lives would be very much at risk.
Cooked, in other words. Great outcome from an overly expensive boeing project. SpaceX contracted to rescue these poor now quite physically damaged astronauts of diversity to get back to Earth and try to recover physical capability. Terrible result which should not have Boeing stipended to “correct’. Like the 737 debacle.
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