AN American astronaut has captured the eerie sight of Elon Musk’s Starship exploding over Earth after SpaceX’s latest failed test flight.
NASA spaceman Don Pettit snapped the dramatic breakup from the International Space Station (ISS) as the rocket disintegrated in the atmosphere on Thursday.
An astronaut’s picture of Starship 8 breaking up in the upper atmosphere and falling back to Earth seen from the ISS[/caption]
The blazing debris could be faintly seen scattered across the night sky[/caption]
A white shell-shaped cloud – likely the point of explosion – was also snapped[/caption]
Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station taking the incredible snaps[/caption]
The re-entry of debris scattered in the sky over the Caribbean[/caption]
The Expedition 72 Flight Engineer said: “We saw the Starship 8 breakup in the upper atmosphere and fall back to Earth from the ISS.”
His photo shows glowing debris flickering in the distance next to a shell-shaped white cloud – likely the point of explosion – against the vast darkness of space.
The sunlit atmosphere traces an orange line over the blue planet below.
Another SpaceX flop
The 403-foot Starship rocket lifted off from SpaceX‘s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 6.30pm local time.
But minutes into the flight, the upper stage began spinning uncontrollably, leading to yet another fiery failure of Musk’s space company.
“During Starship’s ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost,” SpaceX said.
“Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.”
The doomed rocket was supposed to make a controlled descent into the Indian Ocean.
Instead, it broke apart in a spectacular fireball over the Atlantic, scattering debris near Turks and Caicos.
Flights grounded & flaming debris
The explosion triggered travel chaos, grounding flights at multiple Florida Airports.
Flights from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando had delays averaging 45 minutes.
Footage from a commercial flight captured Starship’s fiery disintegration, streaking across the night sky like a meteor shower.
Other clips showed glowing fragments tumbling towards the ocean, lighting up the darkness.
Despite the latest failure, SpaceX highlighted a small victory.
The Super Heavy booster managed to successfully return to the launch pad, and was caught by the company’s giant mechanical arms.
This is not the first time a Starship test flight has ended in an explosion.
SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas[/caption]
It is now Musk’s third failed rocket launch attempt[/caption]
Starship Flight 8 booster returns from its ascent[/caption]
In January, a launch failed eight minutes into flight, exploding over the Bahamas and scattering debris over Turks and Caicos.
Musk said on X at the time: “Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.”
Putting a positive spin on the rocket failure, Musk also shared a video of the sky spectacle on with the upbeat caption: “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
Passenger jets were forced to swerve the red-hot and glowing remains of the exploded SpaceX rocket that rained across the sky.
And dozens of commercial flights had to divert to other airports or stray course to avoid the deadly path of debris, with one video capturing the spectacle from the cockpit of a plane.
The FAA is now reviewing both Starship mishaps.
