SpaceX’s Starship achieved orbit Tuesday evening during its ninth test flight but subsequently lost control, spun uncontrollably, and ultimately ended with an unscheduled re-entry into the Indian Ocean. According to SpaceX, the surrounding airspace had been cleared for safety purposes prior to the spacecraft’s descent.
Overall, the event presented mixed results for SpaceX. This ninth flight marked the most successful Starship test thus far this year, following two consecutive failures that ended in explosions. Launched from SpaceX’s South Texas facility, the rocket flight notably employed a previously flown Super Heavy booster for the first time, having successfully completed Starship’s seventh test flight and returned safely.
Although the booster successfully separated as planned—allowing Starship to reach the targeted orbit—issues emerged during deployment tests involving mock satellites. SpaceX reported that the spacecraft was unable to open the intended cargo hatch to deploy its payload. Subsequently, Starship experienced a failure of its orientation systems, losing the ability to maintain control necessary for safe re-entry.
This flight occurred less than a week after the Federal Aviation Administration had cleared SpaceX to resume launches following its investigations into earlier incidents, notably two explosive mishaps in January and March. The January incident involved debris falling near Puerto Rico, forcing the FAA to temporarily redirect airline traffic. The March event saw Starship lose multiple engines while entering an uncontrolled spin before ending prematurely.
In response to the earlier incidents, regulators requested expanded hazard areas, both in the United States and other countries, based on new safety analyses from SpaceX. As part of its investigations and subsequent adjustments after the eighth flight, SpaceX made several critical hardware changes designed to improve Starship’s reliability and safety moving forward.
