Many reports following SpaceX’s ninth flight test for Starship on Tuesday emphasized disaster: The company’s massive rocket and uncrewed spacecraft exploded — again.
But each demonstration has had specific objectives, and though Starship didn’t come close to acing them all this time, one in particular was a breakthrough toward making the rocket and ship reusable. That's a crucial goal for SpaceX, which hopes to use the ship to send people to the moon and Mars in a financially sustainable way.
The launch, which lifted off from SpaceX’s private space port in south Texas on May 27, saw the first re-flown booster in action. The test was broadcast on SpaceX founder Elon Musk's social platform, X. During the livestream, cheers erupted at Starbase when the spacecraft’s engines ignited and the Super Heavy booster — also used in a January test — separated from it and fell back toward Earth.
"Six healthy Raptors running on Ship, on its way to space," a commentator said excitedly, referring to its powerful engines. "Peek that engine view."
That crucial moment can be watched in a video clip presented further down in this story.
The thrill of the achievement didn't last long, perhaps eclipsed by yet another failure. The booster detached from Starship in a method called hot-staging, which means the top part of the rocket starts its engines while still connected to the booster.
That was all part of the plan — a strategy intended to make for a smoother transition — as was the booster flipping itself around after the split. But as the booster neared its landing spot, something went wrong. It broke apart in the air over the Gulf of Mexico, ensuring it definitely won't be reused again.
Starship is a 400-foot-tall beast. The test flight was the rocket system's third this year. The previous two ended in explosions as well, though Tuesday's flight lasted much longer, flying for 46 minutes before flight controllers lost contact with it. The ship wreckage rained over the Indian Ocean.
In a company statement following the test, SpaceX said it couldn't deploy mock satellites in space as expected because Starship's door to release them jammed. The ship also struggled to control its position in orbit, which meant it couldn't restart an engine or prepare for reentry into the atmosphere.
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The above X post features a video of the key moment a reused Starship booster nails its separation and flip in the ninth flight test.
SpaceX has faced criticism for its previous Starship test failures. Its executives insist that building fast, destroying expensive hardware, and learning quickly from mistakes are all part of the company's philosophy — in stark contrast with NASA's much slower approach.
NASA will depend on the rocket company to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface on a modified Starship for the Artemis III and IV moon missions under a $4.2 billion contract. To do that, SpaceX first has to master refueling its ship in space. For Musk, Starship is also a passion project to eventually send people to settle a city on Mars.
The company says it's planning to make more improvements to the prototype before the next flight test.
"Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable," SpaceX said in a statement, "but every lesson learned marks progress toward Starship’s goal of enabling life to become multiplanetary."
