On March 6th, 2025, SpaceX made another attempt to launch Starship after the mishap less then two months earlier. This was the eighth flight of the company’s huge rocket from its Starbase in South Texas. The launcher consisted of Super Heavy booster 15 as the first stage and Starship 34 as the upper stage, the second Block 2 version of the second stage flown. The plan was for Starship to reach near orbital velocity but not enter earth orbit. Instead it would deploy four simulated Starlink satellites to test the ship’s payload release system before making a soft tail first water landing in the Indian Ocean near Australia.
The initial launch went well: 33 Raptor engines lit successfully and first stage ascent was nominal. Approximately two and a half minutes into flight, the Super Heavy booster shutdown all but three of its Raptor engines as planned for hot-staging separation. Starship then successfully lit its six Raptor engines and separated from the Super Heavy booster to continue its ascent to space. Booster 15 flew back to the launch site and was catched by the launch tower’s “chop sticks” and although two Raptor engines did not ignite during the boostback burn, this went well.
Meanwhile, Starship continued its ascent to its planned trajectory. Prior to the end of the ascent burn, around 8 minutes after launch, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines. This in turn led to a loss of attitude control and a loss of communications with Starship. Final contact with Starship came approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.
Debris fell in the Atlantic Ocean and disrupted air traffic in the area.
“Any surviving debris would have fallen within the pre-planned Debris Response Area”, said SpaceX. According to the company, there were no toxic materials present in the debris and it expected no significant impacts to occur to marine species or water quality.
Apr 11