SpaceX Starship Spirals Out Of Control, Launched On 9th Test Flight After Explosions
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SpaceX's Starship completed its ninth test flight, reaching space but losing control before disintegrating over the Indian Ocean.
Space X's Starship rocket roared into space from Texas on Tuesday on its ninth uncrewed test launch, flying farther than the last two attempts that ended in explosive failure.
The two-stage spacecraft, consisting of the Starship vessel, mounted atop a towering SpaceX Super Heavy rocket booster, blasted off at about 7.36 pm EDT (2336 GMT) from the company's Starbase launch site on the Gulf Coast of Texas near Brownsville.
Plans called for Starship to complete its experimental flight of less than 90 minutes with a controlled descent and splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
However, about a half-hour after launch, SpaceX said its flight team had lost attitude control over Starship, leaving the vehicle in a spin as it continued to head for atmospheric re-entry.
🚨🇺🇸 SPACEX: STARSHIP SPINNING ON REENTRY TO INDIAN OCEANStarship's Raptor engines ignited mid-flight during hot-staging separation, a risky but efficient move.
After losing attitude control, mission control expects Starship to still re-enter and fall in the Indian Ocean.… https://t.co/5Z9KFwD21M pic.twitter.com/7uEvW9eNW6
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) May 28, 2025
After venting its last propellant and putting on a show in the sky, Starship broke up over the Indian Ocean at nearly 20 times the speed of sound. It later disintegrated above the massive ocean.
Other videos showed SpaceX's liftoff, wherein the rocketship could be seen rising from the launch tower into the early evening sky as the Super Heavy's cluster of powerful Raptor engines thundered to life in a ball of flame and billowing clouds of exhaust and water vapour.
As expected, the 232-foot (71-m) first-stage rocket separated from the upper-stage Starship vehicle several minutes after launch and headed back toward Earth.
But SpaceX controllers lost contact with the booster during its descent before it presumably plunged into the sea instead of making the controlled splashdown the company planned.
The upper-stage Starship vehicle continued to climb to space, reaching its planned suborbital trajectory about nine minutes into the flight.
In one test-flight mishap, Starship's payload doors failed to open in order to release a group of simulated satellites.
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May 28, 2025, 07:26 IST
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