BOCA CHICA, TEXAS – SpaceX’s ambitious Starship program experienced another dramatic test flight yesterday evening, with its latest mega-rocket successfully launching but ultimately tumbling out of control and breaking apart. This marks the ninth demo flight for the colossal 403-foot (123-meter) spacecraft, following two previous attempts that also ended in explosions.
Blasting off from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas – an area that recently voted to organize as an official city – the integrated Starship and Super Heavy booster ascended into the sky. However, the flight fell short of its primary objectives.
According to SpaceX, a crucial snag occurred when the payload door, intended to release a series of mock satellites, failed to open completely. Soon after, as the spacecraft skimmed the edge of space en route to a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean, it began an uncontrolled spin.
SpaceX later confirmed the spacecraft underwent a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” a euphemism for bursting apart. In an online statement, the company noted, “Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test.”
Despite the setback, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remained optimistic, hailing the flight on X (formerly Twitter) as a “big improvement” compared to the previous two demos, which culminated in fiery debris over the Atlantic. Looking ahead, Musk pledged an accelerated launch schedule, promising that Starship flights would occur every three to four weeks for the next three test missions, underscoring the company’s commitment to rapid iteration in its development process.
This latest test, while not fully successful, provides SpaceX with crucial data as they continue to push the boundaries of reusable super-heavy lift rockets for future lunar and Martian missions.
