The company SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, lost the second stage of its gigantic rocket Starship, which replicated an incident that occurred earlier this year, but nevertheless managed to recover the first stage in an impressive maneuver.
The acting director of the company, Dan Hauser, expressed dismay during the video broadcast, saying: "We lost contact with the flying machine." He added ironically: "Unfortunately, this happened last time as well, so we have experience in this matter," indicating that the company works "in close collaboration with the air traffic control authorities."
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted some flights and "canceled the movement" of planes for a short time to avoid a possible collision with debris. Additionally, it required SpaceX to conduct an investigation into this new incident, just as it did in January.
The company confirmed in the evening that during the launch, an "unusual rapid separation" occurred during the subsequent explosion. In the statement, it noted that "before the launch was completed, an event occurred at the energy level in the rear part of the Starship rocket, which led to the loss of several Raptor engines."
These explosions are not the first to occur during testing of the Starship rocket, as SpaceX continues to develop its rockets at maximum speed and implements numerous launches of prototypes for operational troubleshooting during real flight times.
While this course has allowed the company to achieve success, the current structure of launches may not pass without criticism. Groups have turned to the courts with claims against American property owners, accusing them of neglecting the ecological consequences of such launches, since SpaceX's facility is located near protected territories along the coastline.
Elon Musk's proximity to President Donald Trump raises concerns that it may influence regulatory agencies. Under Joe Biden's administration, Elon Musk has openly criticized the regulatory authority of civil aviation, accusing it of excessive control over his company.
According to Bloomberg, an engineer from SpaceX recently visited the headquarters of the regulatory agency and called working groups of the company to develop a program for launching thousands of Starlink satellites, also designed by Elon Musk, under the threat of job loss.
SpaceX dismissed this information, stating on its platform that "the latest comments on SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration are misleading."
The last contact with Starship occurred approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after launch. During the last test flight in mid-January, the spacecraft exploded minutes after launch, leaving burning debris in the sky over the Caribbean Sea and causing minimal material damage to the islands of Terks and Caicos, located more than 2500 km from the launch site. Witnesses recorded video of the glowing trails in the sky over the Bahamas.