After the second loss of Starship was visible in Florida skies, new questions are being raised about the powerful launch system coming to Florida.

Flights in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Orlando had been halted for about an hour following the failed launch by SpaceX with their largest and most powerful rocket yet. Linda Burt, a witness, said, “I thought it was a meteor. It’s pretty cool.” A giant orb jetted across the sky.

South Florida residents were shaken by the mid-air explosion of a SpaceX starship eight minutes into its test flight Thursday evening, causing debris that posed a threat to nearby airplanes and leading to flight stoppages in South Florida and the Caribbean.

After lifting off from Launch Complex 40 on a southeasterly trajectory, the Falcon 9 will deploy a payload of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Seven weeks after an explosion sent pieces of a Starship launch vehicle falling into the Atlantic, SpaceX on Thursday again launched its largest and most powerful rocket before losing contact with Starship several minutes into the mission.

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