A Year After Starship’s Debris Rained Over the Caribbean, SpaceX Returns to the Bahamas

Local environmentalists warn that the island's marine ecosystem could be placed at great risk. SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon 9 launch will revisit a rare flight path, lifting off from Florida and flying in the direction of the Bahamas. It’s been nearly a year since authorities banned SpaceX from landing its boosters on the island following an unfortunate Starship test flight. The Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas granted approval to SpaceX to resume landing its Falcon 9 rockets in the country’s waters, according to the Jamaica Observer. The rocket is scheduled for a routine Starlink mission on Wednesday around 5 p.m. ET, launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and landing off the coast of the Bahamas. Bahamian authorities had banned all SpaceX landings on the island following a failed Starship test launch in March 2025, which rained debris across the Bahamas and the surrounding Caribbean islands. Flight hazard The last time a Falcon 9 traveled along this trajectory was exactly one year ago on February 18, 2025, when SpaceX completed a test landing of its rocket’s first stage in the Bahamas. The company was hoping to land 20 Falcon 9 rockets in the Bahamas in 2025, but Starship’s explosive test stood in its way. On March 6, 2025, Starship lifted off for its eighth test flight. The flight was cut short by a hardware failure in one of its Raptor engines, which sent the vehicle into a tumble. The rocket’s upper stage broke apart, raining debris over the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and parts of Florida. Following the fiery debris shower, the Bahamas suspended all SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landings pending an investigation into the Starship launch. “No further clearances will be granted until a full environmental assessment is reviewed,” Bahamian Director of Communications Latrae Rahming said in a post on X. All clear The environmental assessment was meant to ensure that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 landings would not pose a threat to the Bahamian marine environment. Local environmental groups expressed dismay over the government’s clearance for SpaceX to land its rockets on the island. “After the incidents that took place in our waters and in the Turks and Caicos, I assumed any such approval would have been suspended for a long time,” Joe Darville from Save The Bays told Eyewitness News. “We have no right to gamble with our ocean—these rockets are not guaranteed accident-free, and the risks to our waters and marine life are real.” It’s important to note that while SpaceX’s Starship suffered a string of explosive flight tests last year, the company’s Falcon 9 rocket is much more reliable. Still, rockets come with environmental risks that could threaten the Bahamas’ clean waters and healthy marine environment that residents of the island rely on for their livelihood. “Noise, vibration, atmospheric effects, seabed disturbance from marine operations, and cumulative consequences take time to measure properly,” an article in the local newspaper, The Nassau Guardian, read. “The question is not whether The Bahamas should participate in the space economy. The question surrounds the terms in which we participate that will protect what cannot be replaced.”