SpaceX flew Starship for the ninth time on Tuesday, but lost contact an hour later as the spacecraft broke apart during reentry and the first stage of the super-heavy booster exploded before splashing down in the Indian Ocean on its first return flight.
“As if the flight test wasn’t exciting enough, Starship underwent a rapid, unexpected teardown,” SpaceX said in a post on X. “In tests like this, success is all about learning, and the results of today’s test will help improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX strives to make multi-planet life a reality.”
Starship's launch took place from Starbase in Texas at 7:30 p.m. ET and was streamed live on SpaceX's website.
“Starship launch!” SpaceX announced in a post on X shortly after liftoff.
The test flight was the first launch using a “flight-proven Super Heavy booster” that SpaceX hopes will one day be able to launch multiple times a day.
“Starship's Raptor engines are igniting during hot stage separation,” SpaceX wrote in a follow-up post on X. “Super Heavy is returning to splashdown and preparing for high-angle-of-attack reentry.”
SpaceX reported five minutes later that Starship's “launch burn is complete and it is now coasting through space,” preparing to reenter the inner atmosphere before landing in the Indian Ocean. Some protective thermal tiles, normally attached to protect Starship from overheating, were removed for experimental purposes as various tile options were explored during the launch.
Starship planned to conduct experiments after launch to gather data that would help improve its reliability and performance in the future. Although the Starship rocket stage attempted to deploy eight satellite simulators for the first time, it was not successful.
Starship also failed to restart its engine in space after SpaceX lost control of the craft due to fuel leaks. According to SpaceX's Dan Huot, Starship was spinning out of control and was unable to reorient itself for reentry.
“This has caused some fuel systems inside Starship to leak,” Huot explained. “This reduces the chances of a controlled reentry.”
“We'll still be collecting as much data as we can. We're still getting live telemetry, live feeds… all the time, and we'll be monitoring the ship as it moves,” Huot added, before confirming that Starship had broken up on reentry.
When Starship broke apart, the Super Heavy booster exploded before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX said it would study the data it collected.
“The first re-launch of the Super Heavy rocket! The objectives of today's test were designed to intentionally push the Super Heavy rocket to its limits, giving us real-world performance data that will directly help make the next generation rocket even more efficient,” SpaceX said.
Two previous Starship test flights also ended in destruction, but those flights failed within ten minutes of liftoff. Starship's ninth test flight lasted more than an hour.
Starship was cleared for a ninth test flight in May after the Starship 8 mission grounded commercial air traffic in Florida in March. SpaceX lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after launch. The spacecraft suffered an engine failure and automatically self-destructed, scattering debris across South Florida and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Starship 7 mission in January also exploded shortly after liftoff, sending debris into the Gulf of Mexico.
During Tuesday's launch, the danger zone was twice as large as the one implemented for Starship 8.
The Federal Aviation Administration also required SpaceX to take out $550 million in insurance to cover a hazard zone extending 1,600 miles from Starbase.
According to SpaceX, Starship is the “world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever built,” and can carry more than 165 tons of reusable components and more than 275 tons using expendable materials. Starship spacecraft are designed to launch and return to Earth multiple times with minimal maintenance.
According to SpaceX's website, the Starship spacecraft is designed to be “a fully reusable transportation system designed to deliver both
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