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.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flights departing from airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach to stay grounded until at least 8 p.m. EST after a SpaceX Starship broke up following a test launch Thursday,

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 .

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

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

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

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.