University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point students Mariah Davenport and her boyfriend, Dane Siler, were on a flight from Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, to Chicago when they witnessed the unusual sight outside the plane window. Davenport, who recorded a video of the debris on her cellphone, said it looked like "something you'd see in a movie."

"During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost," SpaceX said in a post to X, formerly Twitter. "Our team immediately

The Federal Aviation Administration did, too. The FAA halted flights, including at Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, after SpaceX confirmed that its Starship launch experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its ascent. Translation: The rocket blew up.

Back on January 16, 2025, SpaceX's Starship Flight 7 exploded after launch. Now, Starship Flight 8, which was essentially a re-do of that mission, has also exploded. Seven minutes after Starship Flight 8 was launched from the SpaceX Starbase site in South Texas, the rocket exploded. This news was confirmed by CNN .

SpaceX launched annother Starship rocket on Thursday months after a prior explosion. However, this attempt also saw the spacecraft come tumbling down.

Orlando International Airport officials announced they were briefly under a Federal Aviation Administration "ground stop" because of space launch debris.

Rocket blows up in midair in a repeat of its previous test flight, prompting the FAA to issue a warning and divert flights.

Orlando and Miami International Airports, among others, are experiencing ground stoppages due to the failed test flight of SpaceX's Starship.

SpaceX’s Starship is undergoing a series of test flights to prepare for deep-space missions. With eight flights now completed, find out how each test has unfolded.