SpaceX Relied on Tourists’ Videos to Track Debris From an Exploding Starship

When Starship Flight 7 broke apart over the Caribbean in 2025, SpaceX used footage filmed by bystanders — including passengers aboard Disney and Royal Caribbean cruise ships and guests at a Club Med resort — to map the path of the falling debris, according to an FAA mishap report obtained by ProPublica.

The heavily redacted report includes maps showing where the videos were recorded, but the FAA withheld SpaceX’s own estimates of where debris came down. An aerospace expert told ProPublica that leaning on public video suggests the company’s tracking lost sight of the debris cloud.

Before Flight 9, the FAA significantly widened its pre-launch no-fly zones. A separate report on Flight 8 says SpaceX lacked a test stand capable of fully testing engines for a complete mission; Flights 7 and 8 both ended in engine-related failures. SpaceX, the FAA and the companies involved did not respond to requests for comment.

Read the original story at ProPublica.