SpaceX's Starship exploded in space just minutes after launching from Texas, marking the second straight failure this year for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.
The incident occurred when the Starship upper stage began spinning uncontrollably with its engines cut off, eventually breaking apart and raining debris over the Caribbean.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) briefly issued ground stops at several Florida airports due to "space launch debris". SpaceX attributed the failure to an "energetic event" in the aft section of the Starship, which resulted in the loss of several engines and ultimately led to a loss of attitude control and communication.
This incident comes after another Starship test flight ended in an explosive failure in January. Despite these setbacks, SpaceX remains committed to developing the Starship program, which aims to send humans to Mars as soon as the 2030s.