SpaceX used video recorded by tourists and cruise passengers to help track debris after Starship Flight 7 broke apart over the Caribbean in January 2025, according to a report reviewed by ProPublica. The FAA document included video and maps locating footage from travelers aboard Disney and Royal Caribbean cruise ships and at a Club Med resort.
The report’s description, as quoted by ProPublica, says the debris cloud passed behind a cruise ship. The material indicates the videos were part of SpaceX’s effort to count and track debris, although the underlying report is heavily redacted and is not independently available in the sources reviewed for this story.
Footage from travelers
Starship Flight 7 broke apart on Jan. 16, 2025, during a test flight from Texas. Debris was visible over the Caribbean near Turks and Caicos. The Federal Aviation Administration later said its investigation found no injuries to members of the public and confirmed minor vehicle damage in Turks and Caicos.
About two weeks after the mishap, SpaceX supplied the FAA with a report that included the tourist footage, ProPublica reported. The report’s maps showed where the videos were recorded, connecting footage from vacationers and cruise passengers to the debris-tracking effort.
Because the report is substantially redacted, the available material does not show all of SpaceX’s estimates of where debris fell or provide a complete account of how the company used each video. The documented footage establishes that recordings from travelers were included, but the reviewed sources do not establish the full role those recordings played in the investigation.
Expert interpretation and limits
ProPublica quoted Moriba Jah, an aerospace professor, interpreting the tourist footage as a sign that SpaceX’s own tracking did not fully capture the debris-cloud phase. That is Jah’s assessment, not a confirmed conclusion in the unredacted report. The available evidence does not establish that SpaceX failed to track the debris or explain the precise limitations of its tracking systems.
The distinction matters because the videos’ presence in the report is documented, while the significance of that presence remains subject to interpretation. The report, as described by ProPublica, provides locations and footage, but extensive redactions limit what can be determined about the company’s estimates and analysis.
Later FAA flight-safety changes
In materials about Starship Flight 9 in May 2025, the FAA said it had expanded hazard areas after updating its flight-safety analysis to account for previous flights and planned booster reuse. The agency said Flight 9’s aircraft hazard area covered about 1,600 nautical miles, compared with about 885 nautical miles for Flight 8.
Those figures describe the FAA’s Flight 9 planning and do not, on their own, show that tourist videos from Flight 7 prompted the larger hazard area. The supplied materials do not establish a causal link between the recordings and the later changes.
ProPublica said SpaceX, the FAA, Disney, Royal Caribbean and Club Med did not respond to its requests for comment. That account describes the publication’s outreach; it does not establish the organizations’ views on the footage or the report.