A SpaceX Starship prototype failed in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket program.
SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities at 5:38 p.m.
Video footage showed orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind. "We did lose all communications with the ship — that is essentially telling us we had an anomaly with the upper stage," SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot said, confirming minutes later that the ship was lost.
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