The Federal Aviation Administration this week asked Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to investigate what went wrong during test flights of their respective giant rockets.
Regulators said both companies must conduct so-called “accident investigations.” These investigations involve companies and the FAA working together to understand what went wrong, why it happened, and to take corrective action. In both cases, regulators will need to approve the companies before the rockets can fly again. It’s not immediately clear how long that will take.
In SpaceX’s case, the explosion occurred Thursday during the seventh test flight of its Starship rocket system, which launched from Boca Chica, Texas. Musk wrote in X magazine that the Starship itself became overpressurized by excess gas as it ascended into space, and eventually exploded. An official statement on the company’s website states that the fire started inside the ship.
The Starship’s destruction left debris and brightened skies over the Turks and Caicos Islands, prompting the FAA to delay or divert some flights in nearby airspace as a result of low fuel levels. The FAA said there were no reports of injuries, but the regulator was working with SpaceX to “verify reports of damage to public property in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”
SpaceX and the FAA already appear to be at odds over certain details regarding the explosion. The FAA has activated what is technically known as a “debris response area,” but officials say it would only be activated if debris from the spacecraft falls outside of the hazard area defined before launch. SpaceX claims on its website that “any remaining debris would have fallen into a designated hazard area.”
Hours before SpaceX’s launch, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the first time ever. The New Glenn rocket’s upper stage successfully entered orbit, but its booster exploded on its way down to land on a drone ship at sea.
The FAA said it was “aware of an anomaly that occurred during Blue Origin’s mission,” and that no injuries or damage to public property were reported.