SpaceX Starship Reaches Space but Spins Out and Burns Up

SpaceX’s Starship rocket reached a significant milestone during its ninth test flight by successfully reaching space, a feat it had not accomplished in its previous two attempts. However, the mission fell short of several critical objectives, highlighting the ongoing challenges in developing the world’s largest fully reusable launch vehicle.

Shortly after launch from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster ignited successfully, and the rocket cleared Max-Q and completed stage separation. Unfortunately, telemetry was lost with the booster, which was presumed destroyed after failing to perform a controlled landing.

The upper stage, known as Ship, continued its journey into space, marking progress compared to prior flights where the upper stage failed early. However, about 30 minutes into the mission, Starship lost attitude control, resulting in an unrecoverable spin. This caused an uncontrolled atmospheric reentry, leading to the vehicle breaking apart and burning up over the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX had planned to deploy mock Starlink satellites during the flight, but the deployment doors failed to open fully, forcing the company to abort this objective. The mission also aimed to test multiple reentry experiments and attempt a controlled catch of the vehicle by the Mechazilla tower, which did not succeed.

This flight was notable for being the first time SpaceX reused a Super Heavy booster for Starship, a key step toward the rocket’s goal of full reusability. The booster had previously flown and landed during the seventh test flight, demonstrating progress in booster recovery technology despite its loss during this mission.

The failure to maintain attitude control was traced to an engine ignition device overheating during the boostback burn. SpaceX responded by adding insulation to the engines in this flight to prevent recurrence. Despite the setbacks, the flight generated valuable data to improve future Starship performance and reliability.

Starship remains central to SpaceX’s ambitions for interplanetary travel, including NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the Moon by 2027 and Elon Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars. Each test flight, even those with failures, provides critical insights that bring these goals closer to reality.

Lessons from Starship’s Ninth Flight

The ninth flight underscored the complexity of achieving full reusability and controlled landings for such a massive rocket. Key takeaways include:

• Successful ignition and flight of all 33 Raptor engines on the booster stage
• Loss of telemetry and failure to recover the Super Heavy booster
• Upper stage reached space but lost attitude control, leading to uncontrolled reentry and destruction
• Failure to deploy payloads due to mechanical issues with deployment doors
• Implementation of engine insulation to address ignition device overheating

Each flight test, even when it ends in failure, is a critical step toward refining Starship’s design and operational procedures. The data collected informs hardware improvements and mission planning, making the dream of routine space travel and interplanetary colonization more tangible.