- SpaceX’s Starship exploded after its latest launch to space, causing flight diversions and viral videos.
- The Federal Aviation Administration closed Florida airspace after the SpaceX incident.
- A previous Starship explosion in January also caused debris over the Caribbean.
Mariah Davenport and Dane Siler were over an hour into their flight when they saw it: flaming debris out their window.
The young couple, both college students in Wisconsin, told Business Insider that they were heading back to the US on Thursday from the Dominican Republic where they had been vacationing in Punta Cana.
Siler said the Frontier pilot had warned them that the flight from the Dominican Republic to Chicago might take a little longer because of a diversion in the flight path due to the SpaceX Starship launch Thursday night.
However, they were surprised when, not yet midway through the flight, they heard the pilot make an announcement.
“He said, ‘If you look to your right, one of the rockets just blew up,'” Siler said. “I’m like, what? So then we looked through a window, and that’s when I grabbed my phone and recorded it.”
A video of the flaming debris that Davenport posted on TikTok went viral, accruing over 12 million views in a matter of days.
SpaceX’s Starship spun out of control shortly after its launch and exploded as it reached space. The Federal Aviation Administration closed the airspace over much of Florida after the incident and issued a temporary ground stop at several airports.
The explosion comes a month after a Starship exploded during a test flight in January and rained debris down over the Caribbean, causing similar flight disruptions and diversions.
“We thought it was cool,” Siler said. “We didn’t think we were in any danger, and then 20 minutes later, he told us that we were going to have to go back to Punta Cana, so that was another hour and a half.”
Davenport said she was unnerved when, after the plane had landed back in Punta Cana to refill on gas, she overheard a flight attendant mumble, “That was too close for comfort.”
“Hearing that was very frightening,” Davenport said.
The couple eventually made it home several hours later than planned.
The FAA is investigating the incident.
Frontier and SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
