Debris field at the launchpad after the SpaceX Starship explosion in Boca Chica, Texas.
Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images
SpaceX Blast Left Officials in Disbelief Over Environmental Damage
Fish and Wildlife Service biologists expressed frustrations in emails obtained by Bloomberg.
In April, US wildlife officials visited the site of a SpaceX rocket that exploded shortly after takeoff and took in the damage: Concrete chunks had left craters a foot deep and were strewn across tidal flats, almost four acres of state park were burned, and seven bobwhite quail eggs and a collection of blue land crabs had been incinerated.
The officials, biologists working with the Fish and Wildlife Service, privately expressed disbelief at the extent of the scene, records obtained by Bloomberg News show. “The explosion was so extensive it sent concrete chunks flying into the surf,” said one email from Chris Perez of the FWS to colleagues. The environmental damage was due to the tremendous amount of force required to get the world's largest rocket off the ground.