Utah man gives first-person account of SpaceX rocket explosion
Jan 21, 2025, 8:52 PM

A Utah man, who was in Turks and Caicos last week when Elon Musk's latest SpaceX rocket blew up over the Caribbean, shares what it was like to see it firsthand. (Amy Brown)
(Amy Brown)
SALT LAKE CITY — What is it like to witness a rocket explosion? A Utah man, who was in Turks and Caicos last week when Elon Musk’s latest SpaceX rocket blew up over the Caribbean, shares what it was like to see it firsthand. It’s an experience he calls spectacular.
Watch as the rocket debris streaks across the sky. Video after video showed the fire shower from pieces of the SpaceX Starship as it rained down on Turks and Caicos.
“One of the few times, if your life you could say the sky is falling and it really is happening,” North Ogden resident David Evertsen said.
Evertsen just happened to be in Turks and Caicos for business. He first heard the explosion.
“To hear the sonic booms, just rattling the house, eight of them, one after another after another, what is going on?” Evertsen said.
Evertsen says he then went outside and saw the debris falling from the sky, pieces of it landing along the beach.
“You almost sit on under it, you see that it’s a big piece right there,” one man who found a large piece of rocket debris said.
One even impaled the roof of someone’s car. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and Evertsen made himself quite a collection. As a self-admitted space and astronomy geek, he finds it fascinating.
“It’s been part of my life for a long time, to have a piece of history, to be part of that is pretty fantastic,” he said.
What may be crazy is this isn’t the first time Evertsen has been in an incredible situation like this. He told us he was also in a war zone, close to two hurricanes, and two tornadoes, he was in Paris during the terrorist attacks, and now this. He said he’s starting to think he may be the common denominator.