A view of Space X’s Starship on the launch pad for its seventh test flight, in Boca Chica, Texas, USA
Maxar Technologies | Via Reuters
Several commercial flights were diverted or delayed after SpaceX’s Starship the rocket disintegrated during its seventh flight test on Thursday.
Dozens of flights were affected, according to flight-tracking tool Flightradar24.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it “briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where the spacecraft debris was falling” after issuing a warning to pilots about a “hazardous area for falling debris from the Starship rocket.”
The rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s facility near Brownsville, Texas shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET and headed east of Texas. It disintegrated and SpaceX said on Xu that it will “continue to review the data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause.”
The FAA has not received any reports of injuries or property damage from Starship debris, an agency spokesperson told CNBC.
AND JetBlue Airways flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico diverted back to Fort Lauderdale, after nearly two hours of flight, according to FlightAware, another flight tracking site. JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Other flights near Turks and Caicos, including a FedEx The cargo jet appeared to turn, according to flight tracking data, while the Spirit Airlines plane also changed course.
The airlines and SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the outages.
An American Airlines a spokeswoman said the carrier had fewer than 10 diversions due to the problem.
Air and other commercial flights, as well as private aircraft, competition for air spaceespecially in the congested area around Florida.
— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.
