After two failed test flights, the spacecraft finally reached space — but entered an uncontrolled spin mid-flight and exploded during reentry into the atmosphere.

The ninth test flight of SpaceX’s massive Starship system marked a modest step forward: for the first time, the upgraded version of the spacecraft reached space, launched atop a reused booster. However, about halfway through the flight, SpaceX lost control of the vehicle. It entered an increasingly rapid spin, and its reentry into the atmosphere became uncontrolled, culminating in loss of contact at an altitude of approximately 60 kilometers.

A good start — Starship lifts off successfully on its ninth test flight.

A Step Forward, Several Steps Back

The Starship system launched from SpaceX’s space base in South Texas following a brief countdown delay. For the first time, the company reused its Superheavy booster — the same rocket that launched the Starship spacecraft during the seventh test flight and was previously caught successfully by the launch tower’s arms. Ahead of the ninth flight, only four of the booster's 33 engines were replaced.

Approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff, the spacecraft executed a planned "hot staging" — igniting the Ship’s engines before the booster engines shut down.  The separation went smoothly, with all six of the Ship’s engines firing as planned, allowing it to continue along its trajectory. Unlike the previous two flights, SpaceX did not attempt to land the booster back on the launch tower. Instead, it aimed for a splashdown over the ocean to test the vehicle under more demanding reentry conditions. This segment of the mission was only partially successful, as the booster exploded in midair before it could perform the landing maneuver.

Starship, however, continued its journey into space along a planned ballistic trajectory. In both the seventh and eighth test flights, the spacecraft failed at this stage, exploding mid-flight. This time, it completed its engine burn as planned, followed its intended trajectory, and shut off its engines approximately nine minutes after launch. Starship reached an altitude of about 185 kilometers — technically placing it in space, though it lacked the velocity needed to enter orbit, classifying the flight as suborbital. The suborbital trajectory meant that the spacecraft would reenter the atmosphere regardless of engine activity. The reentry path was over the Indian Ocean, where the spacecraft was supposed to perform a controlled splashdown maneuver.

Starship, however, continued its journey into space along a planned ballistic trajectory. In both the seventh and eighth test flights, the spacecraft failed at this stage, exploding mid-flight. This time, it completed its engine burn as planned, followed its intended path, and shut down its engines approximately nine minutes after launch. Starship reached an altitude of about 185 kilometers, in what is classified as a suborbital flight — it was in space in terms of altitude, but did not reach the velocity needed to enter orbit around Earth. This suborbital trajectory ensured that the spacecraft would reenter Earth’s atmosphere regardless of further propulsion. Reentry on this path occurred over the Indian Ocean, where the vehicle was expected to attempt a controlled splashdown maneuver.

 

The spacecraft began to ignite. View of the Ship’s engines during the spin | From the SpaceX broadcast

 

SpaceX had planned two key tests for the spacecraft before reentry: deploying dummy satellites and reigniting one of its engines. The company also intended to evaluate recent modifications to the spacecraft’s heat shields and assess their performance during atmospheric reentry. However, none of these objectives were achieved, as the relevant stages never materialized. The satellite deployment was canceled after the cargo bay doors failed to open. Following several unsuccessful attempts, the engineers decided to skip this phase. A few minutes later, the company lost control of the spacecraft’s stabilization system, which maintains the spacecraft’s orientation during flight. Starship began to spin around its axis, forcing engineers to abandon the engine reignition as well. The spinning intensified, and with the spacecraft out of control, a guided reentry — with heat shields correctly aligned downward — became impossible. The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere in an uncontrolled descent, parts of it ignited, and final contact was lost at an altitude of just below 60 kilometers, likely following a midair explosion. The spinning resembled what occurred during the third test flight in March 2024.

Despite the disappointing outcome, one clear success of the ninth test flight was the quality of communications with the spacecraft, maintained up to the final moments, thanks to Starlink satellite connectivity. The onboard cameras transmitted high-resolution video even during intense spinning, and these visuals — along with the extensive technical data collected, will help SpaceX engineers understand what went wrong and how to fix it in preparation for future tests.

 

The cargo bay doors jammed. Dummy satellites — designed to match the shape and size of next-generation Starlink satellites — inside the Starship’s cargo bay | From the SpaceX broadcast.

 

The Most Important Challenge

SpaceX initially announced that CEO and founder Elon Musk would present his vision for the company’s future ahead of the test flight. The speech was later postponed to after the flight — and ultimately canceled without explanation. Nonetheless, Musk gave several interviews prior to the ninth test flight. When asked by Ars Technica about his vision for SpaceX for the next decade, Musk emphasized that Starship remains the company’s top priority: "If the Starship program is successful—and we see a path to success—it's just a question of when we will have created the first fully reusable orbital launch vehicle, which is the holy grail of rocketry, as you know."

In the same interview, Musk reiterated his criticism of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon in the coming years. He argued that the plan lacks ambition: "We should be going a thousand times farther, and going to Mars. Mars is a thousand times farther than the Moon. And if we are gonna go to the Moon, I think we should do a Moon base, or something that's the next level beyond Apollo."

From successful launch to loss of contact — the ninth test flight of the Starship system.