SpaceX lost Starship and Super Heavy during ninth test launch

Starship launched into space on its ninth test launch, but both stages of SpaceX's rocket were lost before the mission was complete. Despite this, the company has gained important technical data and is planning new attempts in the near future.

The mission launched on May 27 at 19:37 EST (02:37 May 28 Kyiv time) from the Starbase launch site in Texas. The flight marked the first time the Super Heavy booster, which had flown during the seventh test launch in January, was reused. This time, SpaceX replaced only 4 of the 33 Raptor engines, the rest being "flight-proven."

The Super Heavy was scheduled to make a hard landing in the Gulf of Mexico as the company tested a new, higher-angle reentry trajectory to reduce its descent rate. However, about 6 minutes after launch, the booster broke up during a maneuver before reaching the landing point.

The Starship upper stage flew on a suborbital trajectory over the Atlantic. It was supposed to deploy eight Starlink satellite prototypes about 18.5 minutes after launch, but a partially blocked cargo hatch prevented that from happening. Another task was to fire one of the Raptor engines in space, but a loss of control caused the Starship to spin and the company canceled the test.

The failure was caused by a loss of pressure in the main fuel tank, which led to malfunctions in the orientation systems. The vehicle eventually disintegrated during atmospheric reentry over the Indian Ocean. SpaceX also experimented with heat shields: some were removed for stress testing, and some were made of new materials.

This is the third consecutive partially successful Starship launch in 2025. During the seventh and eighth launches in January and March, the company lost its upper stage less than 10 minutes after liftoff. In both cases, the first stage, the Super Heavy, was successfully returned to base, but this time the flight was complicated by experimental maneuvers.

The company confirmed that it is already preparing new test launches, which could take place at intervals of three to four weeks. According to SpaceX engineers, the current launch provided important data for further improvements to the design and software.

SpaceX noted that the goal of the program is to create a reusable heavy rocket for flights to the Moon and Mars. The rocket consists of a Super Heavy booster and a Starship upper stage, the total height of the structure is about 120 meters. Both stages are equipped with Raptor engines: 33 on the Super Heavy and 6 on the Starship.