Elon Musk’s South Texas Starship program has been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following last week’s rocket explosion. The FAA announced that it will review the incident before approving the return to flight of the SpaceX Starship.
The explosion occurred on Thursday when the Starship blew up shortly after launching from South Texas. Debris rained down over the Caribbean, causing air traffic controllers to divert aircraft from the area. Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries from the falling debris.
Elon Musk attributed the cause of the explosion to an apparent fuel leak in the aft section of the ship. The booster section of the rocket was successfully recovered at the launch site.
The Starship program is a reusable launch system aimed at colonizing Mars as part of SpaceX’s ambitious plans. This incident marks the second major setback for the program, which was previously grounded for six months in 2023 following another rocket explosion that caused environmental damage.
Source: https://www.tpr.org/technology-entrepreneurship/2025-01-19/elon-musks-south-texas-starship-program-grounded-following-explosion