SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight, the ninth in its development program, ended in failure after the spacecraft lost control and broke up during re-entry, despite achieving its farthest flight to date.

The mission began successfully on May 27, 2025, with the two-stage Starship system—comprising the upper-stage Starship vehicle atop the Super Heavy booster—launching from SpaceX’s Starbase facility on the Texas Gulf Coast. This flight marked the first time SpaceX used a previously flown Super Heavy booster, aiming to demonstrate the reusability critical to future missions.

After a powerful lift-off, the Super Heavy booster separated as planned and began its descent. However, SpaceX lost contact with the booster before it could achieve a controlled splashdown, and it is presumed to have crashed into the sea. Meanwhile, the upper-stage Starship continued its ascent, reaching its planned suborbital trajectory about nine minutes after launch.

The mission encountered significant issues when Starship’s payload doors failed to open, preventing the release of simulated satellites. The situation worsened approximately 30 minutes into the flight when SpaceX lost attitude control of the spacecraft due to a fuel leak, which caused the vehicle to spin uncontrollably in space. As a result, Starship was not properly aligned for atmospheric re-entry, and SpaceX officials acknowledged during the livestream that the chances of a successful splashdown were slim.

Ultimately, the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere earlier than planned and disintegrated, a failure SpaceX described as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly”. Despite the loss, the vehicle surpassed the milestones of previous test flights, which had ended in explosions shortly after launch. SpaceX emphasized that such tests are crucial for gathering data and improving the reliability of Starship as the company pursues its long-term goals of lunar and Martian exploration.

The incident prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to reroute flights and temporarily suspend departures at several Florida airports due to concerns over falling debris. Elon Musk and SpaceX remain committed to advancing Starship, which is central to NASA’s plans for returning humans to the Moon and Musk’s broader vision of making humanity multiplanetary.

Agencies