SpaceX debris grounds flights at South Florida airports
Flights at Miami International Airport (MIA) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) were delayed Thursday afternoon after debris from a failed SpaceX Starship launch prompted ground stops.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued temporary flight restrictions for both airports after SpaceX confirmed that its Starship vehicle suffered a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" during ascent, resulting in lost contact with the spacecraft.
Ground stops
At MIA, a ground stop was issued at 6:42 p.m. EST, initially lasting until 8 p.m. The advisory cited a "space launch incident" as the cause, with average departure delays climbing to 36 minutes and a maximum delay of 74 minutes.
"Some flights at MIA are being delayed due to falling debris from the SpaceX launch over the Atlantic Ocean," said Greg Chin, Communications Director at MIA.
A similar ground stop at FLL was put in place at 6:46 p.m., leading to departure delays averaging 41 minutes and peaking at 67 minutes.
FLL's public information officer, Arlene Satchell, said the ground stop was "short lived and has been lifted."
Normal operations after Debris Response Area activated
On Thursday evening, the FAA released a statement, which in part, read: "During the event, the FAA activated a Debris Response Area and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location. Normal operations have resumed."
"A Debris Response Area is activated only if the space vehicle experiences an anomaly with debris falling outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas. It allows the FAA to direct aircraft to exit the area and prevent others from entering."
SpaceX responds
SpaceX acknowledged the failure in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying, "During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses."
The company added that it would analyze the data from the failed test to determine the cause and improve the reliability of future Starship flights.
