Elon Musk’s SpaceX didn’t have a great Thursday in the Texas skies or on late night television after the company’s big rocket exploded in flight.

It wasn’t a normal day at the beach for the Texas town of Port Isabel, six miles away, either. Some residents “were terrified of the sound and, worse, covered with sand,” The New York Times reported, calling the scene “brown grime for miles.”

SpaceX apparently did not have a fire trench or big enough water system to dampen or redirect the exhaust from the rocket’s 33 engines. A few of those engines didn’t fire.

Cameron County’s Emergency Management Division confirmed on Facebook “that the dust that fell this morning in Port Isabel was sand and soil from the nearby SpaceX launch site that was lofted into the air by the force of the lift off.”

The Starship rocket exploded before reaching orbit and local agencies were asking people who found debris “do not attempt to handle or retrieve the debris directly.” Instead, they were asked people to call the SpaceX Debris Hotline.

Late night comedians didn’t miss the launch failure, either.

“SpaceX is now saying they triggered the explosion, but originally when it happened, they called it a ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly,’” Jimmy Fallon said. “That sounds like what celebrities say when they’re getting divorced: ‘Our marriage is going through a rapid unscheduled disassembly — please respect our privacy at this time.’”

Kimmel followed the money. “Elon’s defenders were quick to point out that this was only a test and the rocket was actually supposed to explode,” he said, “which is definitely what I would say if my $3 billion rocket exploded.”

Comedian Jordan Klepper may have had the night’s best comment. “And to the haters who said Musk couldn’t possible destroy something faster than Twitter, joke’s on you,” Klepper said.

NASA remained in SpaceX’s corner with a statement of support from Administrator Bill Nelson. “Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test — and beyond,” Nelson tweeted.

And Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica, tweeted today that he had “spoke with a half a dozen employees at SpaceX since the launch. If their reaction is anything to go by, the Starship test flight was a spectacular success. Of course there’s a ton to learn, to fix, and to improve. It’s all super hard work. But what’s new? Progress is hard.”