The failure of SpaceX's latest Starship test flight on Thursday caused significant disruption to air travel in Florida, impacting nearly 240 flights across major airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued ground stops that momentarily halted flights at Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Orlando airports due to concerns over debris generated by the spacecraft's explosion.

The FAA reported that flight operations were restricted for just over an hour, resulting in 171 departure delays and requiring 28 flights to divert while 40 airborne flights were held for an average of 22 minutes. FAA officials stated that the explosion marked the second consecutive failure in Starship's test series, as the vehicle experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" shortly after launch.

During the ascent, contact was lost when the spacecraft began to spin uncontrollably. Videos online showed debris igniting as it fell through the skies over Florida and the Bahamas. In response to the incident, the FAA has mandated an investigation into the mishap and will require SpaceX to assess and report on the cause of the failure. Reuters noted that the ground stop and diversion initiatives followed close scrutiny of SpaceX's previous flight failures, which had also triggered ground stops shortly after their occurences.

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, referred to this incident as a "minor setback," emphasizing the goal of having the next ship ready for testing within a month and a half. As Musk aims for manned missions to Mars. Following this failure, SpaceX remains committed to learning from each flight to improve Starship's reliability and performance.

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