The seventh test flight of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket upended the way space launches traditionally flow: The first stage ended the mission intact while the second stage ended it in pieces.
Flying the Starship’s Super Heavy booster back to the launch tower to be grabbed by the arms of that structure’s “sticks” might seem like the hard part. SpaceX made a catch on Starship’s sixth flight test in November, after achieving that improbable feat a month earlier.
But after liftoff at 5:37 p.m. ET powered by 33 Raptor methane engines — one reused from the November flight — the Starship booster successfully decelerated in the upper atmosphere and headed back toward the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica , Texas. Just under seven minutes after launch, the booster was inserted between the sticks, which closed inward to catch attachments on the upper edge of the booster to secure it for a safe landing.
The 33 Raptor engines send the Starship aloft quickly. (Credit: Rob Pegoraro/SpaceX)
Instead, the Starship’s upper stage — which had consistently achieved engine cutoff to begin a suborbital flight around the world on every flight since the third test last March — ran into something it couldn’t overcome.
SpaceX’s live stream showed the six Raptor engines on the Starship’s upper stage starting to pulse as the booster descended—first it shut down, then the other four quickly cut off. The telemetry froze showing the stage had only one engine still running and was traveling at 13.246 mph, 91 miles up.
“That’s basically telling us that we had an anomaly with that upper stage,” SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said on SpaceX’s live broadcast after confirming the loss of communication. “At this point, we’re assuming the ship is lost.”
SpaceX later shared its own confirmation of the loss to the X. “Starship experienced an unplanned rapid disassembly during its ascent burn,” the company posted. “Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk followed up with his upbeat tweet: “Upgraded versions of the shuttle and boosters are already waiting for launch 🚀”
Clearance for landing (Credit: Rob Pegoraro/SpaceX)
Thursday’s launch featured what Huot colleague Kate Tice described before liftoff as a “next-generation upper stage design” with changes such as a roughly 7-foot extension that raised the height of the cluster. complete Starship at almost 404 feet, a 25% increase in propellant volume, smaller and offset fins, and adjusted heat shield plates intended to require less renewal.
Starship had a lot of work planned after the second stage engine shut down. This flight would see it deploy 10 dummy Starlink satellites, a prelude to SpaceX’s plans to deliver 60 v3 satellites in a single Starship launch and use that increased capacity to deliver gigabit download speeds.
Starship’s reentry would then have tested redesigned heat shields, some with active cooling, to help SpaceX identify locations on the exterior of the spacecraft where it can eliminate plaques that need inspection and repair after each flight. The company is “building toward that heat shield that doesn’t require renewal between flights,” Huot said before launch, something no spacecraft has yet achieved.
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These tests will have to wait for SpaceX to determine what went wrong in this test. Although the company has shown a remarkable ability to find problems, fix them and fly again quickly.
Almost Home (Credit: Rob Pegoraro/SpaceX)
Thursday’s disaster could also delay planned tests of Starship’s ability to transfer propellant into space ahead of deep space missions. NASA has invested heavily in that long-range potential, in the form of a $2.89 billion contract for a lunar lander version of the Starship upper stage for its Artemis missions to the Moon later this decade.
As SpaceX’s Tice said after the test: “We always knew that today the excitement is guaranteed; success, not guaranteed.”
SpaceX’s competitors at Blue Origin — the recipients of a second lunar landing order from NASA, after winning a $3.4 billion contract in 2023 — should be able to prove it. The Jeff Bezos-owned firm got its start Thursday by finally launching its giant New Glenn rocket into orbit on its first attempt, but then failed to land its booster on a barge in the Atlantic.
January 16, 2025 may not be the most complete day in the history of American spaceflight, but it has to rank among the most interesting.
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About Rob Pegoraro
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