The Federal Aviation Administration wants Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to investigate what went wrong on this week’s mega-rocket test flight. Regulators said the two companies must conduct what they call an “accident investigation.” This investigation involves the company and the FAA working together to understand what went wrong, why it went wrong, and take corrective action. In that case, regulators would have to step in on the company before the rocket could fly again. It is not clear how long it will last. In the case of SpaceX, there was an explosion during the seventh test of the Starship rocket system, which was launched from Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday. Musk wrote in X that the Starship itself became over-pressurized due to excess gas as it ascended into space, and eventually exploded. The company’s official explanation on its website said the ship’s interior caught fire. The destruction of the Starship created a debris field that lit up the sky over the Turks and Caicos islands, causing the FAA to slow and even divert some flights in nearby airspace due to low fuel levels. There were no reports of injuries, according to the FAA, but the regulator said it was working with SpaceX to “confirm reports of damage to public property in Turks and Caicos.” SpaceX and the FAA have appeared to differ on one detail about the explosion. The FAA technically activates what’s known as a “Debris Response Area,” which the administration says only happens if pieces of the spacecraft fall outside the danger zone established before launch. SpaceX asserts on its website that “[a]the surviving pieces of debris will fall into the designated danger area.” Hours before the launch of the SpaceX rocket, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida for the first time. The upper stage of the New Glenn rocket successfully entered orbit, but the booster exploded when it came back down to attempt to land the drone at sea. The FAA said it was “aware of an anomaly during the Blue Origin mission”, and that no injuries or damage to public property had been reported.
