Topline
SpaceX on Tuesday launched its ninth test launch of Starship, one of the Elon Musk-founded company’s signature rockets, though the company lost “attitude control” of the spacecraft about a half hour into the flight and ultimately lost contact with the ship before its landing.
SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Monday ahead of … More
Key Facts
The rocket launched around 7:35 p.m. EDT after a five-minute delay from SpaceX’s manufacturing facility in Starbase, Texas, which is near the southern tip of the state, along the Gulf coast.
SpaceX livestreamed the launch on X, which was scheduled to start around 7:30 p.m. EDT and take a little over an hour to finish.
Dan Huot of SpaceX said on the livestream about 30 minutes into the launch that it was “not looking great with a lot of our on orbit objectives today,” but he expects Starship will still reenter—though it was unclear if it would be a controlled entry as SpaceX had “lost attitude control” with the ship.
He added “uncontrolled reentry” would take place over the Indian Ocean, with the spacecraft still expected to land in generally the same open area of ocean it would have with a controlled reentry.
Just before 8:30 p.m. EDT, Huot confirmed SpaceX lost contact with Starship, which ended the flight test, though he said SpaceX “collected a lot of great data” throughout the launch.
Tuesday’s launch was the ninth test of Starship and comes after the last two test launches ended with explosions—though SpaceX said it made “several hardware changes” to “increase reliability” of this flight.
Big Number
403. That’s how many feet tall Starship is, according to SpaceX, which describes the rocket and spacecraft as “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.”
Key Background
The eighth test launch of Starship was on March 6, and ended in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” though it began with a successful liftoff and the ship’s Super Heavy Booster was successfully caught using two mechanical arms. The mishap of the eighth launch led to the Federal Aviation Administration ordering a ground stop for flights leaving from multiple airports in Florida as the ship broke up over the ocean, leaving a fiery trail of debris that was widely photographed. The seventh test launch, which was on Jan. 16, also ended with a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” after SpaceX lost connection with the ship during its ascent phase. After the eighth launch ended in explosion, SpaceX founder Elon Musk defended the struggles and said SpaceX was only facing a “minor setback” and that “progress is measured by time.”
What Caused The Past Explosions?
The seventh test flight was disrupted by an oxygen leak, flashes and “sustained fires” in its aft section, which caused the rocket’s engines to shut down, according to an investigation into the launch from SpaceX and the FAA. After that launch, SpaceX said it made “several hardware and operational changes” to the spacecraft. In the eighth launch, SpaceX said the “most probable root cause” was “a hardware failure in one of the upper stage’s center Raptor engines that resulted in inadvertent propellant mixing and ignition.” SpaceX also pointed out that even though the two “failures” of the seventh and eighth launches “manifested at a similar point in the flight timeline,” the causes were “distinctly different.”
Surprising Fact
Unlike the last two launches, SpaceX was not trying to catch the Super Heavy Booster this time around—instead it flew the same booster from the seventh flight in an effort to show it is a fully reusable rocket, SpaceX commentators Jessie Anderson and Huot said on the livestream.
What To Watch For
Musk’s comments about the launch. Musk was set to hold a press conference to give an update on SpaceX’s “plan to make life multiplanetary” early Tuesday afternoon, but he and SpaceX postponed it until after the launch.
Forbes Valuation
Forbes estimates Musk has a net worth of around $431.9 billion as of Tuesday evening, making him the wealthiest person in the world. SpaceX, 42% of which is believed to be owned by Musk, is worth $350 billion based on a private share sale in December 2024.
Tangent
Tuesday’s launch comes as Musk has vowed to recommit himself to his companies and spend less time in his role working for the Trump administration. Musk has been overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency and working with President Donald Trump as a special government employee since Trump took office in January. During his time with the government, Tesla—the largest company Musk oversses—faced significant backlash and sales globally slumped while protests and vandalism of Tesla dealerships and vehicles spiked. After Tesla reported Q1 figures showing profits and revenues at multiyear lows, Musk said he would be “allocating far more” of his time to Tesla and would be reducing his time spent working for the government. In a post on X on Saturday, Musk said he will go “back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” adding: “I must be super focused on 𝕏/xAI and Tesla (plus Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.”
Further Reading
Elon Musk Defends Second-Straight Explosion For SpaceX’s Starship As ‘Minor Setback’ (Forbes)
FAA Briefly Halts Flights Departing From Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando And Palm Beach Over SpaceX Launch Debris (Forbes)
SpaceX’s Seventh Starship Launch Ends With ‘Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ (Forbes)
