by Government officials in Turks and Caicos said Friday that debris from a failed SpaceX rocket test had fallen over the Caribbean islands, but that there had been no reported injuries and minimal property damage so far.
The government statement also said that the Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority diverted flights in its airspace and grounded aircraft immediately after the accident.
SpaceX launched its giant Starship rocket and spacecraft on an uncrewed seventh test flight on Thursday. About nine minutes after launch, the company lost contact with Starship and the rocket’s upper stage broke apart over parts of the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans.
Shortly after the incident, videos surfaced online showing glowing debris streaking across the sky.
Government officials in Turks and Caicos said they were not currently aware of any specific risks associated with the spacecraft debris, but added that space debris “can sometimes contain hazardous substances that can cause serious health effects.”
Officials said that anyone who encounters an object that may be space debris should not touch it, record the time and place of its discovery, take a photo (if possible) without touching it, and report the find Nationalsecurity@gov.tc should report the subject title “Space X Debris”.
The government statement said space debris remains the property of the spacecraft owner – in this case SpaceX.
Officials said they were working with partners in the United Kingdom and the British Space Agency to deal with the debris and maintain health and safety following this incident.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it has grounded the Starship rocket pending an investigation into the in-flight accident.
The FAA said it was working with local authorities to confirm reports of damage to public property in Turks and Caicos.
After the Starship vehicle broke apart, the FAA confirmed that it activated a “Debris Response Area,” slowing or stopping aircraft near the area where debris fell.
“Several aircraft had to be diverted due to low fuel levels while staying outside the affected areas,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.
Rey Garcia, a tennis instructor at the Turks and Caicos Islands Tennis Academy, said he saw pieces of debris, likely from Starship, falling on a tennis court where he works.
“I was actually really scared,” Garcia said. “I thought it was a meteorite.”
He said he saw smoke and heard explosions as pieces rained down across the tennis court and golf course.
“It kept exploding and exploding and exploding,” Garcia said. “It was strong. You could feel the explosion. It felt so close.”
The test flight took off from SpaceX’s Starbase launch site near Brownsville, Texas. The planned trajectory would have taken Starship over the Gulf of Mexico and the Yucatán Peninsula, then east near Cuba and across the Atlantic Ocean. Had the flight gone as planned, Starship would have ultimately sunk in the Indian Ocean.
At 400 feet tall, Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed. The rocket consists of two parts: a first stage booster, known as Super Heavy, and the upper stage Starship spacecraft.
The system is expected to play a critical role in NASA’s efforts to return to the moon. The agency selected SpaceX to carry astronauts to the lunar surface during NASA’s planned Artemis III mission, scheduled to launch in 2027. Musk also said Starship could be used for future missions to Mars.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
