Starship touches space, but does not come back: flight 9 turns to the crash test
Starship successfully takes off for its flight 9: SpaceX sends its giant rocket to space from Texas. © SpaceX
May 27, 2025, SpaceX launched its starship ship for the ninth timeFrom Starbase, Texas. The company was aimed at an ambitious objective: to demonstrate the reusction of the elements, to test material developments and, above all, to validate new flight profiles. If the ship has reached space, the two floors were however lost before they could conclude their mission. A setback, of course, but also a precious learning field for Elon Musk and his teams.
SpaceX tests the limits of starship, even if it means crossing them too early?
Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, targets nothing less than the Moon, Mars … and beyond. With its two floors – the Super Heavy booster and the Ship – SpaceX vessel promises a completely reusable system. Flight 9 marked an unprecedented milestone: the first flight with a booster already used (that of flight 7), and a series of unpublished experiments.
From the take-off, the show was there. The Super Heavy climbs, drops Ship which, for the first time in two flights, reached space without exploding. But the rest is spoiling.
The booster, supposed to land suddenly in the Gulf of Mexico, disintegrates after only six minutes of flight. For his part, Ship, unable to open his hatch to drop false Starlink satellites, then loses control because of a pressurization leak. Result: the attitude of the vessel becomes unmanageable, and the machine in turn disintegrates, somewhere above the Indian Ocean.
Musk remains optimistic: “Many data to analyze. Theft has made significant progress”he said. In fact, partial reuse, tests on thermal tiles and the new approach to atmospheric return are all key elements for future iterations. And the company plans to relaunch a flight every three to four weeks. Objective: iterer, miss, correct – until it flies really well.
The next Starship flight, the Flight 10, is scheduled for mid-June 2025, from the SpaceX launch base in Starbase.
Find the entire launch below.
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