View of SpaceX’s Starship on the launch pad for the seventh test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, USA
Maxar Technologies | via Reuters
Several commercial flights were diverted or delayed after SpaceX’s Starship rocket was damaged during its seventh test flight on Thursday.
Dozens of flights were affected, according to flight tracking company Flightradar24.
The US Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to pilots about a “hazardous area of falling spacecraft debris,” and then warned pilots to “temporarily reduce aircraft speed and turn around near areas where spacecraft debris could fall.” “I did,” he announced.
The rocket took off from a SpaceX facility near Brownsville, Texas, just after 5:30 p.m. ET and headed east out of Texas. Despite the crash, SpaceX said in a statement that it “continues to review data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause.”
An FAA spokesperson told CNBC that the agency has not received any reports of injuries or property damage from the Starship wreckage.
a jet blue airlines The flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to San Juan, Puerto Rico, was diverted back to Fort Lauderdale about two hours after departure, according to another flight tracking site, FlightAware. JetBlue did not respond to a request for comment.
Other flights near Turks and Caicos Islands including: fedex The cargo jet appears to have veered off course, according to flight tracking data, and the Spirit Airlines plane also veered off course.
The airline and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the confusion.
Ann american airlines A spokesperson said the airline had diverted fewer than 10 flights due to the issue.
Airlines and other commercial aircraft, as well as commercial aircraft, compete for airspace, especially in congested areas around Florida.
—CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.
