US FAA opens probe into SpaceX’s Starship explosion

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it will oversee an investigation by Elon Musk’s SpaceX into an explosive Starship test flight that sent debris streaking over the northern Caribbean and forced airlines to divert dozens of flights.

“There are no reports of public injury, and the FAA is working with SpaceX and appropriate authorities to confirm reports of public property damage on Turks and Caicos,” said the FAA, which oversees private rocket launch activity.

An upgraded version of SpaceX’s Starship exploded in space over the Bahamas roughly eight minutes into the company’s seventh flight test from Texas on Thursday, sending fields of blazing debris for miles across the sky over the Turks and Caicos.

There is a “multi-agency investigation that is ongoing” into the Starship explosion, the commissioner of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, Fitz Bailey, told Reuters. He declined to comment on reports of public property damage from the debris.