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FLORIDA - SpaceX's highly anticipated Starship launch from near Brownsville, Texas on Thursday evening would have been visible from parts of South Florida, had the mission gone as planned.
The rocket's planned flight path was expected to take it across the Gulf of Mexico, passing near or just south of the Florida Keys.
Due to the altitude and clear skies, many South Floridians were likely to catch a glimpse of the rocket’s streak across the sky.
The Starship rocket launched at 6:30 p.m., but by 6:38 p.m., reports indicated that several engines had shut off, and SpaceX’s Starbase lost communication with the rocket.
At this point, the rocket was just west of Key West, soaring at an altitude of 90 miles.
At 6:40 p.m., explosions were reported over parts of Florida, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
While the mission did not proceed as expected, had it been successful, the Starship would have continued its trajectory just south of the Keys and circled the globe, heading toward the Indian Ocean.