Dozens of planes have been forced to divert or fly holding patterns to avoid potential debris from the SpaceX rocket that blew up.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it briefly slowed and re-routed planes in the area where the pieces were falling back to earth.
Tracking app FlightRadar24 said its most-watched flights last night after the “rapid unscheduled disassembly” – as Space X called it – were those holding or diverting over the Caribbean.
It appeared to show several planes flying circular holding patterns, including a Spirit jet heading to Puerto Rico and an Air Transat flight bound for the Dominican Republic.
A Boeing 767 transporting Amazon cargo diverted to Nassau in the Bahamas, while a JetBlue flight turned back to where it began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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The FAA often closes airspace for space missions and can create a “debris response area” to protect aircraft if a rocket has a problem outside the original closed zone.
Spectacular video on social media showed the debris from the 400ft Starship rocket streaking across the sky, with another clip showing it from the cockpit of a small plane.
Despite the rocket blowing up, SpaceX owner Elon Musk appeared to see the bright side, posting on X: “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
SpaceX launched the rocket from Boca Chica, south Texas, on Thursday around 4.40pm local time (10.40pm in the UK).
The flight was the seventh test for the newly-upgraded Starship, which was due to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean about an hour after launch.
But the company said it lost contact about eight and half minutes into the flight, with the last data indicating an altitude of 90 miles and a velocity of 13,245 mph.
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There was some success though – the booster section returned to a launchpad and was caught between two giant mechanical arms.
It’s the second time SpaceX has managed this particular feat and it’s part of its effort to reuse hardware and make space travel cheaper – with getting to Mars the big aim.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket also successfully launched two moon landers earlier this week, while Jeff Bezos also had a big win early Thursday morning.
The Amazon boss’s company, Blue Origin, put its New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time.
