More than a month after an explosion caused parts of a Starship launch vehicle to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX experienced another setback on Thursday as they lost contact with the Starship just minutes into its mission. The massive 400-foot Starship, equipped with a super heavy booster featuring 33 Raptor engines, took off successfully from SpaceX’s launchpad at the Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. ET. However, approximately nine minutes into the mission, the spacecraft began to spin out of control. Some of its engines malfunctioned, leading to a loss of communication with mission control. Fortunately, no astronauts were on board the craft. SpaceX cut off the live video feed of the launch without disclosing the whereabouts of the Starship or potential debris landing sites. In a statement on X, SpaceX indicated that the vehicle had undergone an unexpected disassembly. The company pledged to analyze the data from the test flight to identify the root cause of the incident, emphasizing that lessons learned from such setbacks are crucial for enhancing the reliability of the Starship. The Federal Aviation Administration announced that it would mandate an investigation into the mishap. Following the launch, temporary ground stops were enforced at several airports in Florida due to the potential presence of space launch debris. Flight operations resumed as normal later in the evening.
While the Starship was lost during the mission, one notable achievement was the successful return and capture of the Super Heavy booster, a technically demanding aspect of the operation. The first-stage booster completed a controlled descent back to the launch tower, decelerating from supersonic speeds before being caught by the tower’s massive robotic arms. This marked the third instance in which SpaceX had recovered and caught the booster using the launch tower. The goal of Thursday’s flight test was to push the boundaries of the Starship’s capabilities beyond previous efforts. The mission was intended to include the deployment of the Starship’s first payload and various reentry experiments aimed at advancing SpaceX’s progress towards retrieving the upper stage for a future catch at the launch site, making the Starship a fully reusable spacecraft. Unlike the Falcon 9 rocket, which has operated with a partially reusable design for years, the Starship is designed to be entirely reusable and capable of supporting crew and cargo on extended interplanetary voyages.
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft successfully launched from its Boca Chica launch pad in Brownsville, Texas on March 6, 2025. The company highlighted Starship’s capability to carry larger payloads like satellites and cargo, surpassing current launch vehicles. It aims to support extended missions to the Moon and potentially Mars, with plans for carrying up to 100 people on interplanetary journeys. In a recent test flight, SpaceX implemented upgrades to enhance Starship’s performance, including redesigned forward flaps, increased propellant capacity, and an improved avionics system. Despite a previous setback where a Starship was lost due to unexpected vibrations causing propellant leaks, SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of space exploration.
