Jen Mills
Published December 21, 2025 5:40pm
Updated December 21, 2025 5:41pm
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Previous Page Next PageA commercial pilot declared ‘Mayday, Mayday’ after the SpaceX rocket explosion in January, it was reported.
Flights were put at more risk than previously realised after the Starship rocket exploded during a test flight, with three airliners having to navigate through a temporary no-fly zone where rocket debris could be to land safely.
Meanwhile, air traffic controllers were under pressure trying to deal with rerouting flights, and the increase to their workload caused a ‘potential extreme safety risk’, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which reviewed Federal Aviation Authority documents.
The paper said the pilots of a Jet Blue flight to Puerto Rico were told they could no longer land as planned, because the route went through a potential danger zone – but rerouting would have meant running low on fuel over water.
It did land in San Juan after declaring a fuel emergency, the paper said, adding an Iberia Airlines plane as well as a private jet did similar, with the three planes together carrying some 140 people.
The seventh test flight of the Starship rocket launched in January (Picture: X/SpaceX)
A JetBlue spokesman said the airline was confident all its flights avoided locations where debris was seen, while a Iberia Airlines said there was no safety risk, as its flight went ‘through the area after all the actual debris had already fallen’.
The WSJ told how in the scramble to avoid debris, at least two unspecified aircraft flew too close to each other, requiring controllers to take action to prevent a mid-air collision.
They added that SpaceX did not immediately call an official hotline to notify the FAA abbout the explosion, and air traffic controllers in Miami first heard about the explosion only after pilots saw the debris in the air.
Multiple commercial airliners had to be diverted to avoid the risk of flying through debris, which rained down for around 50 minutes.
Had anything hit a plane, the consequences could have been catastrophic, including passenger fatalities.
At the time, Elon Musk had written a tongue-in-cheek post on X about the launch: ‘Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!’
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is thought to be working on a larger, more powerful version of Starship to be unveiled next year (Picture: AFP)
The Starship rocket designed to one day reach Mars suffered a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’ around eight minutes into a test flight, after separating from its booster, Super Heavy.
The spacecraft was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near loop around the world.
But video footage showed that instead, orange balls of light streaked across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, leaving trails of smoke behind as it broke apart.
A group of tourists visiting Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean filmed it in disbelief, describing the beautiful colours and light in the sky, though one man said he thought it was an ominous sign something had gone wrong in explosion.
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Locals on the islands later decribed debris from the rocket washing ashore, including pieces of burned rubber and heat tiles.
The failed launch caused concern at the time about the potential for space launches to impact aviation. A safety review was launched, but halted in August, with the reasoning that most safety measures were already being implemented, and experts outside the US needed to be consulted.
Elon Musk is workingt on a larger and more powerful version of Starship, but has already predicted there could be more problems ahead: he told the All-In Summit in September that it ‘might have some initial teething pains because it’s such a radical redesign’.
Metro has contacted SpaceX for comment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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