SpaceX to launch Starship on Flight 9 from South Texas: Here's what company is planning

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27-05-2025

SpaceX's massive Starship launch vehicle, which is due to play a key role in future crewed space missions, is due to get off the ground on its latest test flight.
The upcoming launch, slated for Tuesday, May 27, from SpaceX's launch site in South Texas, would be the commercial spaceflight company's first test of Starship since the spacecraft's upper portion exploded in March for the second consecutive time.
For the next test mission, referred to as Flight 9, SpaceX said it has made modifications to the 400-foot vehicle as the company continues to develop Starship for expeditions in the years ahead to the moon and Mars.
SpaceX, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, is also eyeing a few key objectives to prepare Starship for more frequent flights after receiving key regulatory approval to significantly ramp up testing. Additionally, Starship is intended to once again attempt to deploy Starlink satellite simulators – an objective it has been unable so far to pull off.
"Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable," SpaceX said on its website. "But by putting hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we're able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle."
Here's everything to know about Starship, and what SpaceX is planning for the vehicle's next flight test.
SpaceX has announced that it is targeting Tuesday, May 27, for Starship's ninth flight test. Liftoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET) from SpaceX's Starbase, the company's headquarters in Boca Chica about 23 miles from Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Where to watch Starship launch: This site in Texas offers a view of SpaceX launch pad
SpaceX intends to reuse for the first time a Super Heavy booster rocket that has launched before.
The booster, which was used in Starship's seventh flight test in January, features some new components, including a replaced heat shield. But most of the booster's hardware will be reused, or what SpaceX refers to as "flight-proven" – including 29 of its 33 Raptor engines.
SpaceX is hoping the data it gathers from reusing a booster will help the company progress toward faster turnaround times between Starship launches. The objective comes as the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, gave SpaceX the greenlight earlier in May to conduct 25 Starship launches per year.
Ultimately, SpaceX intends for future generations of the rocket to be capable of multiple liftoffs per day.
In October 2024, SpaceX first pulled off a daring maneuver that has become a defining feature of its Starship flight tests: returning its super heavy booster to the launch pad.
The feat, which involves catching the booster with giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks affixed to the launch tower, is one SpaceX has pulled off three times overall, including during the most two recent tests in 2025.
But this time, retrieving the booster at the launch pad is not among SpaceX's objectives.
Because Super Heavy is attempting "several flight experiments" that will provide data for future launches, SpaceX is opting to instead land the booster in the Gulf of Mexico, which the U.S. government has renamed the Gulf of America. That includes intentionally disabling one of the three center Raptor engines to assess backup engines during a landing.
"To maximize the safety of launch infrastructure at Starbase, the Super Heavy booster will attempt these experiments while on a trajectory to an offshore landing point," SpaceX said.
SpaceX will take a third shot at a Starlink payload deployment test – a key capability for the vehicle in the future that was called off during both previous launches. The eight Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites, will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to burn up on reentry.
Additionally, the company plans to once again reignite its Raptor engines in space to attempt an orbital burn – a crucial maneuver to one day bring a vehicle back to the ground.
The upcoming launch will be Starship's first flight since two explosive mishaps earlier this year rained debris near near the Bahamas.
SpaceX, which released its findings for what caused the most recent explosion in March, said "several hardware changes have been made to increase reliability."
The Federal Aviation Administration, which issued a launch license to SpaceX after determining it had met regulatory requirements for another launch, also noted that it would expand the size of the hazard zones for Flight 9. Those zones are areas for aircraft to avoid during the flight test.
SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. In the years ahead, Starship is intended to carry both cargo and humans to Earth's orbit and deeper into the cosmos.
NASA's lunar exploration plans, which appear to be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, call for Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon's surface.
But Musk is more preoccupied with Starship reaching Mars – potentially, he has claimed, by the end of 2026. Under his vision, human expeditions aboard the Starship could then follow in the years after the first uncrewed spacecraft reaches the Red Planet.
Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
At more than 400 total feet in height, Starship towers over SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world's most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet.
The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft, or capsule or crew and cargo would ride.
Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines that give the initial burst of thrust at liftoff. The upper section, also called Starship or Ship for short, is the upper stage powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [e-mail]
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: What is planned for Starship launch? SpaceX won't attempt booster catch