A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink craft is scheduled to lift off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base today, during a nearly two-hour window that opens at 12:03 p.m. EST (1703 GMT; 9:03 a.m. local time). SpaceX will webcast the action live via its X account, beginning about five minutes before launch.

The "rapid unscheduled disassembly" was likely caused by a propellant leak, Elon Musk said, and was captured on video by spectators on the ground.

The company says that “Starship flew within its designated launch corridor” and “any surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” The falling debris put on a show in the evening sky over the Caribbean and was captured by several tourists who seemed both amazed and slightly anxious about what they were witnessing.