Report: SpaceX Waited to Alert FAA About Starship Explosion

Explosions during Starship test flights in January and March created air travel disruptions and diversions.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, December 23, 2025 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

SpaceX’s Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster stand nearly 400 feet tall when stacked and are designed to be reusable. [Credit: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX's January Starship explosion reportedly created a "potential extreme safety risk" for air travel due to a 15-minute delay in notifying the FAA, leading to increased air traffic control workload and pilots declaring fuel emergencies.
The incident highlighted the growing challenge of integrating rapidly increasing commercial space launches with aviation safety, prompting the FAA to implement expanded hazard areas and safety measures for subsequent Starship flights.
Despite initial safety concerns and a temporary suspension of a debris risk panel, SpaceX plans a substantial increase in Starship's flight cadence with a new V3 version for orbital missions, underscoring the ongoing need for robust safety protocols and regulatory oversight.

See a mistake? Contact us.

After SpaceX’s gargantuan Starship rocket exploded and disrupted air travel during a January test flight, the company was reportedly slow to inform the FAA.

Starship had separated from its Super Heavy booster and was ascending on its seventh suborbital test flight when it experienced what SpaceX called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” sending hunks of debris cascading through the airspace below. Citing FAA documents, The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that the FAA activated debris response areas—predetermined zones that are cleared of aircraft when unplanned spaceflight debris could endanger them—about four minutes after flight data stopped coming in.