CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX’s Starship lifted off on a test flight from Texas Thursday, but the mission ended with the loss of Starship shortly after liftoff.

The FAA had to halt air traffic at several Florida airports, including Orlando International.

People on the ground across Central Florida say they saw the debris field as it passed over South Florida.

Charlie Ahern had just wrapped up a round of golf Thursday night and was almost back at his Melbourne Beach home around the time of the launch.

He and friends pulled up to the gate just after 6:30 p.m., and he hopped to out to take a picture of the beautiful sunset.

“And we pulled over as we went through the gate. I told the guys, ‘Quick. Stop. You got to look at this.' And they all looked up and said, 'What the heck is that?,'” Ahern said.

Ahern’s video shows falling space debris from the failed SpaceX Starship test flight.

Ahern said he watches all the launches from the cape on the beach.

He’s constantly checking the schedule, so he knew there was not a Space Coast launch that night.

It took them a little while to figure out what they were looking at was the SpaceX Starship launch from Texas.

“The Texas one took off, and it exploded like it did last time," Ahern said. "This is insane — I’ve never seen anything like it."

Don Platt is with the Florida Tech College of Engineering and Science and was teaching a class at the university’s Titusville location at the time of the launch.

He said they had the SpaceX live stream pulled up and were watching the test launch.

“On the stream, the engines have a little graphic in the corner of the screen with the Starship streaming video, and then the engines went out, and there was a groan, then soon after that it started tumbling,” Platt said.

The SpaceX team has built-in precautions during test flights, including a self-destruct system which the company says was triggered in the January Starship explosion.

It’s not clear exactly what led to Thursday's mishap.

Platt said that while this was just another test for Starship, "seeing flaming debris in the sky doesn’t help the whole process."

SpaceX did successfully catch the rocket’s booster for a second time.

Starship’s future ultimately lies on the Space Coast.

Ahern says the failure doesn’t have him personally concerned about public safety.

“I don’t think anyone’s scared,” he said.

The FAA is investigating the Starship explosion.